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REMINISCENCES 



OF 



Parmenas Taylor Turnley 



From the Cradle to Three-Score 
AND Ten 



BY HIMSELF' 



FROM DIARIES KF.I>'J- I-ROM EARLY BOYHOOD. 



WITH A BRIEF GLANCE BACKWARD THREE HUNDRED 

AND FIFTY YEARS AT PROGENITORS AND 

ANCESTRAL LINEAGE 



DONOHUE & HENNEBEKRV 



Pninters, Bin'?ei>s-and Engk/'^eb<?;'j ° -5 ' I,'':,, 'j ', 



CHlLv\ro.' ILL. 



El \^\ 






INTRODUCTION. 



THERE seems to be in the human heart instinctive 
desire to preserve one's race and name coeval with 
man's advent on earth, and is shared alike by the 
barbarian and the civilized! Ambition animates a large 
portion ; while hope, we may suppose, lingers in the minds 
of the remainder! Things real as well as imaginary flash 
up to the mind as possibilities ; and we travel on with mind 
and hopes sustained and accelerated by — what may be — 
and too often fail to utilize what is, and what has been! 
It is said there is nothing new under the sun? This must 
mean that wdiat is has been before and shall recur in the 
future? The desire and ambition to excel others in the 
race of earthly existence, and to stand pre-eminent is, and 
always will be, the potent force to move men to great 
action ; and this too, quite regardless of any moral phase 
of means to an end! Success alone really succeeds! and 
absolute, visible, tangible force is the Archimedean lever that 
conquers, and at the same time becomes the corner-stone 
of all kinds of human government, since the world began! 
Therefore it is that the art of destroying life by war 
opens the widest field for success, and the creating of 
heroes ; and will always be the chief factor in founding 
and controlling human governments! 

Mankind are worshipers of idols ;the more enlightened 
preferring the man hero, rather than the dumb stock and 
stone! It is war that creates heroes! therefore the masses 
crave war! A few people here and there, at different 
epochs and periods, in senrimental moods of despondency, 
or of occasional religious fervor, may decry the strong arm 
of the sword, and advocate tribunes of arbitration; but 
such advocacy will never prevail ; and such peaceful trib- 
une will ever be the iridescent dream of the imagination! 
No human government was ever established, save by abso- 
lute physical force — nor one ever maintained except by the 



exercise of that force. We, of these United States, never 
tire of boasting of our uii-warlike popular government, 
forgetting for a moment that our boasted government 
was created in blood and slaughter ; and that it has been 
maintained in deeper seas of bloodshed, and loss of life and 
destruction of material wealth, than all other nations of 
the earth have expended during our century of existencel 
The period is rapidly approaching when military force, on 
a colossal scale, will be invoked to determine and settle the 
disputes between conteiuling political parties and factions 
in our government ; and to suppress the corru}iting ele- 
ments and rottenness now fast accumulating! The power 
of concentrated wealth must and will rule nations and 
peoples, in the future as in the past! To this end the 
heterogeneous masses of the American Hepublic, gathered 
from all parts of the earth and called the populace, who are 
tickled, for the time being, with the appellation of sover- 
eigns ; and exercising for a brief period the shadowy fiction, 
called vox popnli — which in turn is the basis for that other 
fiction, ]^oico of God — will be set aside and kept in bounds 
by the strong arm of power, while superiors will maintain 
human government commensurate with the intelligence of 
the superior elements! The scramble for spoils of office 
is a barrier to good government by the populace. Equally 
erroneous is another feature of our American Republic, 
Avhich is the boasted contention that State and Church are 
separate and distinct, and shall be kept so — that politics 
and religion have notliing in common! This is not true ; 
never was, and never will be! No government formed by 
men since the world began was based on any other foun- 
dation than some kind of religion! The most savage and 
barbarous tribes on earth have no conception of govern- 
ment, save as a religion! Equally so, do all higher civili- 
zations merge, finally, its aims, efforts and motives, in the 
religious sentiment dominant among them. The weaker 
sects will be subdued, and the one stronger prevail! Every 
political party works under the ins])iration of a religion — 
and all so-called political campaigns in a popular govern- 
ment are in fact religious contentions — and religious 
campaigns! Even as I write this Introduction, and the 
autumn leaves are falling silently on my grjissy lawn, Har- 
rison and Cleveland are before the people for the presi- 
dency ; both ])arties being managed and commanded by 
political rehgionists, with a deep and pious fervor in the 
heart of every leader, determined to down his opponent. 



The moral turpitude of motive lias no place in the action. 
One party's religion is its politics, while the other party's 
politics is its religion ; and in both parties, the incentive 
is a craving for power and the spoils of office as the chief 
object of government! The republican's political religion 
forces him to detest and abhor the democrat's religion, 
and vice versa! I am aware some will call this merely 
political differences ; but, as I liave said, it is religious 
differences, all the same— and these contentions must of 
necessity terminate in armed conflict, the same as have 
been since human government began on ear Ui. Bullets 
and not ballots must be the final arbiter! Religion is a 
sentiment eternal in the human heart, and shapes men s 
conduct in the establishment and control of human gov- 
ernment. The earliest record we have of government 
among men is the alleged record of the alleged Moses. 
Whether Moses and the record were realities or mere fic- 
tions, it is of little moment, since the narrative, in the 
lidit of thousands of years experience and observation, 
demonsti-ates that absolute power will rule independent of 
all imaginarv moral features! Moses found no difficulty 
in obtaining^rders from Deity to put to death all^ other 
tribes and peoples who presumed to offer resistance! His 
example has been followed closely ever since! Even our 
modern Moses, Brigham Young, of Utah, held frequent 
council with Deity in Emigration Canon, in Salt Lake 
Valley, and received orders from Deity to exterminate his 
male enemies ; and, like the first Moses, to parcel out the 
virgins among his people! All this was right at the times 
and places ; heoiuse, power must rule on earth as Deity of 
infinite power rules throughout the universe. The earthly 
Moses, of back date, created his Deity or his God to suit 
his purposes; so, also, our modern Moses (Brigham Young) 
managed to meet a Deity or a God in Enugration Canon, 
in Utah, altogether in accord to his desires and plans. 
(How simple the thing seems when we look at it in its true 
light!) 




Ernest Scvmouv Uuinlcv?, lDcccasc^ Buoust, 
IS91, in bi3 I7tb v?car of age. 



• PREFACE. 

WHEN only a stripling boy, devoted to the monotonous 
drudgery of farm and field, the feeding and care 
of hogs and cattle, I was much given to carving my 
name and the date on the bark of large beech trees (very 
numerous on the premises), with my cheap Barlow knife ; 
and from that I went further and appropriated a half filled 
business journal (no longer used) to the use of recording 
incidenis, events and happenings, personal to myself. 
For what purpose I did this, I could hardly have 
explained, but no doubt it was largely from curiosity. I 
continued this pi'actice, of recording personal items, as I 
grew in years and observation, and when twenty years of 
age I was tempted to review the same and to eliminate the 
three-fourths of juvenile surplusage and arrange in proper 
order the remaining fourth of the more salient incidents 
in a connected manuscript for my amusement and better 
information. This work I did at spare hours, extending 
through several years, and the effect was to lead me to 
keeping an improved diary for the future. Finally, when 
genius and skill produced the type-printing machine, I 
proved my appreciation of the invention by contributing 
many dollars to various and sundry estimable young women 
who had mastered the art of using it, by which means I 
had put into type print the accumulated entries culled 
from numerous diaries, of all kinds and sizes, from the 
pocket memoranda to the quarto, and the same is piled 
upon my dusty bookshelves in what I call my den, where 
I write and think and smoke my cherished cob-pipe ! Not 
until a year or two ago did it enter my mind to do more 
than leave this manuscript for my children's disposition. 
My only son, Ernest Seymour, when home from college 
during the Christmas holidays, 1890, read over some of 
the type manuscript, became greatly interested in the nar- 
rative, and then said, "I do wish you would have this 
printed in a book/' When he returned for the summer 
vacation, June, 1891, he repeated his desire for the book, 
adding, " We cannot all have and use this single manu- 
script." The boy's point was well taken. I thought the 
matter over and told him I would do as he requested, and 
would probably have the book ready about the time he 



would finish college, say, daring tiie World's Fair in Chi- 
cago, May, 1893. This was early in July, 1891. Little 
did he or I, then dream of what was to come to us both in 
a few short weeks. He went to bed Friday night, August 
14th with a high fever, which soon developed into malig- 
nant typlioid, of Avhich he breathed his last in his father's 
arms at 1:20 p. m. Monday, August 24th, 1891, m his 17th 
year of age. (See Appendix Xo. 1.) This sudden ending 
of his young life gave him rest. It may be he is the 
gainer ! Tsot so with me. However, I have tried to 
reconcile my mind to the inevitable, and as a loving 
reminder of the erst-while robust, vigorous and most 
genial and promising boy, 1 heieby carry out the promise 
I made him, and in memory of my dear deceased son, I 
print the manuscript in book form, only for personal 
friends and family. There is little in it of much interest 
to any others than my immediate family, my relatives, 
college nuites and personal friends; although many otliers 
may find food for reflection, and possiby discover some 
Avords of interest touciiing personal traits of character of 
some who are mentioned or alluded to in the following 
pages, but always with feelings of friendship and presented 
in a true garb. Tlie reader may smile at an occasional 
pessimistic utterance, as possibly meant for a joke or a bit 
of extravagance, but will also remember that many a truth 
is spoken as if in jest! 

As I write these last finishing lines, I am sitting in the 
tower attic of my Hormazo* at Highland Park, elevated 
more than a hundred feet above the turbulent waters of 
Lake Michigan, close to the unceasing roar and noise of 
the rolling breakers pitching over each other, as if in haste 
to strike the shore, all in full view from my windows ; the 
blue waters dazzling in the clear sunlight of a lovely 
November day. Nature could scarce present a more 
charming view, than meets my eyes at this moment ; but 
still there ever comes to my mind, the sad and unanswer- 
able question, " Why should my son of 16 in the bloom 
and vigor of youth, sink to death in arms three score and 
ten? Why not [have exj)ired in Jn's arms? Is it possible 
he accomplished his work at 16, while I am still behind 
with mine past 70?" 

Parmenas Taylor Turnley. 

Highland Park, November, 1802. 



* "Hormazo "—Lawn and garden. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY 



CHAPTER 1. 



The following pages of reminiscences, from diaries 
of some of the ups and downs of a long, and rugged, 
but by no means eventful, life is hardly a biography, 
or autobiography, but merely a rapid, personal narra- 
tive of commonplace events and wanderings of one 
who is without fame, fortune or many friends. 

True, I have labored in fields of hazard, glory and 
success with many who did win fame and fortune, and 
who have been gazetted to the world as the greatest, 
of our Nation's era, while I— the quiet plodder and 
unambitious— enjoy my reward in having helped others 
to greatness. For, if I had not, at the opportune time, 
on many occasions, interposed my aid, some of the 
stars of record might not have shown so brightly. 
Some of them possibly not at all. 

While a cadet at West Point, and since that time, 
some things occurred which might have been different, 
and some persons most interested, but not most 
deserving — possibly — were yet the most fortunate in 
acquiring fame, through timely aid from others, on 
whom they had no claims. 

Had I not on the cold December night (25th, 1843), 
assisted by one other cadet, helped Cadet Ulysses S. 
Grant to reach his room in the barracks— through 
deep snow returning from "Benny Haven's" with 



10 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

tobacco and a little whisky, of which he had swal' 
lowed too much to help himself — perhaps his career 
mio'ht have been different to what it was, for he most 
certainly would have been caught and dismissed from 
the military academy I 

Had 1 not personally and alone, at great hazard to 
myseil', rescued Cadets S. D. Sturgis and E. A. Biirn- 
side, at midnight, January 10, 1840, from the snow- 
drift on the hill side near the cadets' hospital — too 
drunk to help themselves — and certain of dismissal if 
discovered — (and discovery staring them in the face) — 
what might have been the change in their records? 

Had I not rescued Cadet George E. Pickett from a 
similar conilition on the night of February 14, 1840, 
what might have been the result of his after-life ? And 
who would have made his record at Gett>'sburg? 

Had I not interposed on behalf of Capt. Phil. Sher- 
idan to save him from a court-martial which would 
have dismissed, if not cashiered him, for refusing, in 
writiuii", to obev the orders of liood old Gen. Curtis, 
whde in camp near Springlield, Missouri, January, 
1802, where might Sheridan have landed ? And who 
would have made that famous ride? 

But I always, through life, did \vhat 1 could for my 
friends above named, at the propitious monient — and 
also for many others who gained distinction. But. as 
all is well that ends well, I have only to say, God bless 
their souls, long live their names and greener grow 
their memories. Albeit, they, each one, owed to the 
writer, in spirit of friendship and comity, more than 
they seemed ever to think of liquidating. It may be 
they were buUt in a way to think mainlv about them- 
selves, while their ureat luck was foreordained and 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 11 

consisted in having others to aid tliem, whose sei'vice 
was theirs as if by inheritance, without price, merely 
by the laws of luck. So mote it be, for good luck 
is better than a fortune earned by personal labor. 

Neither can I claim fame or fortune (and so far as I 
have experienced) any large number of friends from an- 
cestry. This may be because none of them were hanged, 
beheaded, exiled, or accused of piracy, or ever became 
conspicuous in outlawry or popular crimes of their day 
and time, which goes to show that my progenitors were 
a quiet, inoffensive set of do-nothings. Those of them 
who came to this country from England belonged to 
that pitiable, and to me uninteresting, class called 
" poor, but honest." Whatever the Sunday-school 
books may say, close observations of a long life in- 
clines me to think that few men, the world over, who 
gained fame fortune and renown, considered poverty 
any great reward for the double virtue of honesty. 
Having myself most prized the latter, I am content 
therewith, and have no longings for fame ur fortune. 

However, it seems to me germane to my subject and 
not derogatory to ancestral memory, while instructive 
to kinsfolk, to sav a few words concernino: the lineaire 
from which I sprouted, and then, like Topxey, ^\jest 
gro'wedy 

The Turnleys were a family in England, of note and 
standing, as far back as Queen Bess. Prior to 1550, m}'- 
far back progenitors are recorded as a family with a 
Coat-of-Arins, in the i-egister's office in London ; and 
while such pagan and idolatrous trappings add nothing 
to character, yet it tickles the vanity of some people ; 
and some of my now poverty-stricken kinsfolk scattered 
over the earth may some day possess themselves of 



13 reminiscelNTCEs from diary. 

other people's earnitigs and become so rich in worldly 
trash as to want to revel (in imagination at least) in the 
dreamy past and borrow prestige from ancestral stars? 
Besides, we are advancing rapidiv in this line as a 
nation and making annually a few thousand plutocrats, 
millionaires and nabobs in our Republic, by special 
laws requiring the masses to contribute a constantly 
increasing stream of tribute to a favored few, who will 
ere long be the rulers of the country, and will then de- 
sire and boast of those pagan relics called " Coats-of- 
Arms." Lightning of this color may strike some of my 
kith and kin, and they will then prize highly such 
badges, and m}^ departed spirit may receive a credit in 
the distant future which my ashes may not respond to 
or appreciate. 

However, when the Herald College was burned in 
London, with scores of other records, coats and bla- 
zonry, the Turnle}^ Coat-of-Arms was destroyed. 
Those who were especially interested in such things 
had their records restored ; but the Turnle3's neglected 
this for many years. This is a further evidence that 
the Turnleys had deteriorated and lacked sagacity and 
jyromptness to follow lines that led to greatness. 

This restoration of record was finally made, how- 
ever, and the record will be found in Randal Holmes' 
Academy of Armory, published during the reign of 
Charles IL The '■^ Turn Cup Lil^'' as the arms repre- 
sent, page 480, Yol. 1, of Fairbairn's Crests of Great 
l^ritain and Ireland. 

EXTilACTS FROM THE RKCORDS IN THE HERALD's OFFICE. 

" An Academy of Armory, a storehouse of armory 
and blazonrv, containing all things worn in Coats of 



REMINISCENC^ES FROM DIARY 



13 




{Turnlc^, 



14 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

Arms, both foreign and domestic, with the terms of 
arts used in each service, by Randal PIolmes, of the 
City of Chester, Gentleman Senior in Extraordinary to 
His Majesty Kino^ Charles II, and sometimes Deputy 
for the King at Arms, MDCLXXXYIII, Book II, 
Chap.—, Page Y4, Sec. C. V. (105). He beareth Argo 
Turn-cap flour ; Fliped : by florists termed Mastagon 
fliped." 

" These are born by Turnley." 

Page 140, Vol. 1, of Fairbairn's Crests of Great 
Britain and Ireland : 

Turnley's Coat of Arms — "On a mount vert : an oak 
tree ppr. pendent and sinister side a shield gu charged 
with a cross pattee or perseveranda, pi : 75, cr: 2. 
Cross pi. 141." or, more clearly translated, " Turnley's 
Coat of Arms, first the shield and the pattee cross, 
Avith the crest, a green oak tree on a mound, pendent 
on the left side a reddened shield charged Avith a pattee 
cross ; that is, a cross in which the arms are very nar- 
row at the inner^ ends and broad at the outer ends. 
Plate 75, Crest 2. Cross plate 141." 

Richard Turnley was an ensign with the Earl of 
Essex, and embarked from Plymouth against Spain, 
which resulted in the capture of Cadiz. He was in 
another expedition under Essex for the protection of 
Ireland from threatened invasion bv Spain. Several 
members of the family held positions of honor and 
trust during that period. John and Francis and 
Edmund Turnley (the first two asensignsand Edmund 
as cornet) joined a squadron of cavalry, and when 
Cromwell became Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, those 
three participated in that memorable, but discreditable 
battle of Droffheda. After their discharge from the 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 15 

service two of them turned their faces homeward (to 
England) but John concluded to remain in Ireland, and 
settle there in business, married, had children and thus 
planted the name in the Emerald Isle. (Mr. John 
Turnley, Esquire, of Drumnasole, Glenarm, County 
Antrim, is one of the product of John Turnley of Ire- 
land. He was living as late as June, 1892, about 73 
years of age.) Francis and Edmund continued their 
return toward England, but tarried one year in Wales 
to see how they liked the people and the country. 
Francis liked it so well, (or rather liked one of the 
lassies so much) that he married and settled there for 
good. Edmund alone finally reached England and 
there lived and raised a family, a descendant of whom 
(Mr. Joseph Turnley, Esquire, of Tudor House, Burgess 
Hill, Sussex, near London) was lately living. Francis, 
of Wales, is the one accountable for the Turnley pro- 
geny in the United States. He had a famil}'^ of sons 
and daughters, and after a time removed to Monmouth, 
England, where he died in 1690. His two elder sons he 
named also, John and Francis, and these two brothers 
are the progenitors of the Turnleys in this country. I 
omit notice of Edmund Turnlev's offspring, as also of 
another of the familv named James Turnle}^ who re- 
sided in Gloucester, England, all of whom had sons, 
andthe name and connection became quite usual in 
parts of England, Ireland and Wales. (Not to mention 
a few illegitimates in India and some English colonies.) 
I am only interested in the two sons of Francis of 
Wales (John and Francis) who came to the United 
States. Thev were born in Monmouth, England, in 
16G0 and 1662, and after reaching their majority, they 
crossed the channel to Bristol, England, where they 



16 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

married and had families. In 1C02> Laving been 
tempted by the favorable inducements offered by 
William and Mary to emigrate to the colonies, they 
together embarked for the new country from the then 
port of Bristol, for Korfolk, Virginia, with their fami- 
lies. John, the elder, settled in or near Bedford 
County, and Francis in Spottsylvania Count}', Vir- 
ginia. Francis' offspring I will not trace, as I come 
from the John of Bedford County and later of Botte- 
tourt County. Both of these brothers, however, had 
sons and they followed the confusing custom of naming 
each of their eldest for his uncle; so that it is John and 
Francis continued to the extent of a serious confusion 
to trace them ; although now and then the names of 
Edmund and James come in. Francis' first son was 
born also in Monmouth in 1691. So also John's eldest 
was born in Monmouth in 1690. The two fathers died 
in Virginia at ripe of ages, and the two cousins took 
their places in the world, with limited education and 
less patrimon3\ This John succeeding his father in 
Bedford County, became of age there in 1712, married 
and had two children, the eldest of whom he named 
John, of course, and that John, born in 1737, ^vas my 
great (jrandfatlier. His father died when he was only 
nine years old, and the boy was apprenticed to a 
brickmaker and mason. In that day and time the 
unfortunate apprentice boy was worse off than a bond 
slave. He continued with his master till nineteen 
years of age, when he ran away, and concealed him- 
self in another county till the matter blew over; but 
followed his well-learned trade of la3nng brick. 
Finally, at the age of twenty-four, he was married to 
Mary Handy and in 1762 his first child, and only son. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 17 

was born and named George; that George was my 
grandfather. This boy, George, was a well-grown 
fourteen year old lad when the Revolution (1776) 
began, and joined the Continental troops as a 
conductor of pack horses with supplies in parts of the 
country where wheeled vehicles and other means of 
transportation could not be had. He continued in the 
military service (never reaching above a private, 
or train-boy) till the close of the war in 1783, 
by which time he was of age and returned to his 
father's place in Bottetourt County, Virginia, penni- 
less and ragged. His father was a poor man, owned 
onl}^ a small patch of land for bread and garden pu im- 
poses, but made his living by his trade, laying brick. 
He had only two child I'en ; this son George and a girl 
named Elizabeth. George soon tired of the dull and 
unpr'Muising ])rospect in the old shant}- in Bottetourt 
County and set out on foot, to seek something moi'e 
inviting in the region of countrj^ along the upper tri- 
butaries of the French-Broad, the Pigeon and Holston 
rivers, in what is now Eastern Tennessee, bnt was at 
that time a territbr}' of North Carolina. He spent some 
time among the Indians then occupying that region, 
and liked it so well he returned to Virginia, and 
induced his father to pull up stakes and accompany him 
back to the French-i3road river where they drove their 
new stakes in 1785, in the rich lands and cane brakes, 
thirty miles east of where Knoxville now is. Mean- 
while the sister, Elizabeth, had, about the close of the 
war, married in Bottetout, a Mr. George Graham, a 
Scotch mill-wright and excellent mechanic. Thev also 
followed the Turnleys to the French-Broad. Thus it 
was theTurnley tree was planted in that new territory. 



18 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

Grandfather George cut logs and erected a snuo- cabin 
15x20 feet, in the edge of the cane-brake, hewed out 
"puncheons" for the floor and rived out clap-boards for 
roof and doors, and in March, 1791, married Lottie 
Cunningham, of Shenandoah Counts, Virginia, but who 
with her mother and brother had folh^wed the Turnleys 
to the new country, and located a few miles from them. 
In that little cabin on February 27, 1792 their first 
child was born, named John C. f urnley, and he became 
lather to the man who writes these lines. 

John C. grew up on the farm and in the shops at his 
father's till seventeen, then worked with his uncle (the 
aforesaid George Graham,) at the cabinet trade for 
tliree years, when he went to work on his own account 
The war with Great Britain (1812) being on hand, John 
C, with half a dozen others walked 120 miles to Nash- 
ville, Tenn., and volunteered as soldiers in Capt Kena- 
day's company which was afterward attached to the 
First Tennessee Regiment of Infantrv. The company 
descended the Cumberland and Ohio river in a flat 
boat to Cairo, Illinois, thence, to what was known at 
that time as Chickesaw Bluffs, l)ut now the city of 
Memphis; thence to Walnut Hills, Mississippi (now 
known as Vicksburg) ; from there he began his soldier- 
ing on foot under General Andrew Jackson, chief in com- 
mand, through which it is unnecessary to follow him in 
this narrative. After his discharge he had a long tramp 
back to Tennessee through forest and swamp, with tesv 
and far-between habitations to rest at, sufl-erino- severe 
sickness and dangerous fever, but finally reached Knox- 
ville and resumed his cabinet and carpenter work In 
1818, he married Miss Mahala Taylor, and went to 
housekeeping in Dandridge, the countv seat of Jeffer- 



o <-+. 




REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 19 

son. His first two children were girls, but the writer 
-changed the luck by coming into this world as the 
third, the sixth of September, 1821, in thelitttle village 
oottage his father had erected preparatory to his mar. 
riage. In 1824, he concluded to move eight miles east, 
on the state road, and erect wagon-making and black- 
smith shops, to benefit bv the then stream of travel 
and "movers" seeking homes in Middle and West Ten- 
nessee, and the new States of Indiana and Illinois. 

I have at greater length than I intended traced the 
line of the Turnleys, mainly to show my own personal 
starting point in this world of strife and labor. The 
information is of no value otherwise. Father named 
his new location Oak Grove because of the dense 
growth of white, black and red oaks, in the midst of 
which he built his huge log-house, two stories high, of 
large hewed pine logs. He had a postoffice established 
there (it being seven miles to the next nearest office), 
himself tiie postmaster, which he held for thirty seven 
(37) years. September 15, 1828^ having just entered 
m\' seventh year, little old John Farrell began his 
winter school in a small log-house a mile and a half 
distant from our home, and reached by only a foot-])ath 
through dense forest and thick underbrush. It was 
decided that I should accompany my tv/o elder sisters 
to that school; for which purpose I was provided with 
a small Webster's spelling-book and a cheap wool hat. 
I had to wait until October for my first pair of shoes 
to be made by an itinerant cobbler, who traveled from 
house to house and made and repaired shoes for fami- 
lies. M}'^ eldest sister was ten and the other eight 
years old, and I well remember mother's injunction for 
us to " go fast to and from school and never leave the 



20 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

foot-path on any account/"' In fact, for three chiklren 
so small, a mile and a half through almost impenetrable 
forest was hazardous to say the least. I continued go- 
inc to that school until Christmas holidays, when the 
old pedagogue, Farrell, sent a line to my mother not to 
send me back again for I could never learn anything; 
that I had been the whole|term, from September to 
Christmas, on the one same'lesson in the spelling-book 
and still did not Lnow it. This surprised mother and 
put her on her mettle. She sent for Mr. Farrell to 
come, take supper and stay over night to talk the 
matter over. He came, but insisted I was too stupid 
to benefit by going to school, so I staid at home. 
Mother, however, did nof^give me up (in fact, mothers 
seldom ever give up a child), but to her many house- 
hold cares and labors she added that of having me sit 
for an hour, forenoon and afternoon, and with her 
assistance and explanations learn my book. It is need- 
less to say I made good progress. The next year 
another teacher opened a school onlv half the distance 
from us, and I attended that, but mother gave me extra 
instruction, at nights, at home, otherwise I would, per- 
ha]is, again have been marked as too stupid to learn. 
The reason of this was plain enough and ought to have 
commanded the attention of the "schoolmasters'' and 
parents, but did not. I was small of my age, and lived 
in mortal fear of the master, would sit quietly for 
hours on the hewed log bencii (m}^ little feet not reach- 
ing the floor by six inches) without a word being- 
spoken to me by the teacher, who was fully occupied 
with the forty or fifty older scholars, some grown up 
boys and girls. 

This neglect of me in the school-house left me help- 
less. \\\ fact, I really was not as quick to ^ee and learn 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 21 

as many others, unless prompted by bel)) and explana- 
tion, I continued to attend, for thi-ee months in the 
year, those neio-hborhood schools till 1831, (just ten 
years old) when my services at home required all my 
time in helping' to feed the cattle, make tires and chop 
wood. My father, meantime, put me into arithmetic, 
to prepare me to measure lumber, grain, etc., and when 
12 years of age I was fairly prolicient for one of that 
age. By this time, father had completed his water- 
mills (to saw lumber and grind com and wheat) and I 
never got time to attend school thereafter, but picked 
up all 1 could at home with the aid of father and 
mother. My two older sisters, however, were belter 
favored and were sent off to the girls' seminary at the 
county seat vilhige (Dandridgej. 

I thus grew up on the farm in summer and in the 
mills in winter, assisting in all the work. None of m}'^ 
family would ever own slaves, so we had all white hired 
help. Many years later, by inheritance, mother got 
one or two house servants, slaves, from her mother's 
estate. Father was away from home a great deal, he 
attended the courts in several neighboring countiesand 
did the law business of the neighborhood. He was 
appointed state's attorney, or prosecuting attorney, for 
the district, which took most of his time, the conse- 
quence was, I grew older than my years by having to 
plan and manage all work at farm and mills. 

So time passed and I grew up in practical ever}' -day 
hard work. I would spend a week with two or three 
hired men cuttins- and hauling saw-logs to the mill, then 
start the mill and cut the logs into lumber to fill the 
bills people gave me for houses, barns, etc., they wished 
to build. This would be my work from November till 



22 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

March, when T would consign the mills to other hands 
and proceed to cleaning up the farm and fences, and 
prepare to start two or three plows — never later than 
the 15th of April. 

The autumn of 1840 was made memorable by the 
unprecedented interest and activity all over the coun- 
try during the political campaign of William Henry 
Harrison (whig) and Martin Van Buren (democrat) 
for the presidency. It was about the silliest political 
exploitation this country ever witnessed. The real 
points of issue were the same then as ever before and 
ever since, and as ever will be in human government — 
namely : how to tax the masses foi- the classes. The 
whig party was the ultimate product of the old federal 
party, and that old partv was a collection of the sub- 
missive tory element of revolutionary period. It waa 
and is and always has been, the work! over, the very 
opposite of true democracy, or of true republican gov- 
ernment. The main points at issue were to have a 
higher tariff tax tribute levied on tiie masses foi* the 
special benefit of a few hundred or thousand manufac- 
turers ; second, to charter a United States bank under 
the sophistical plea as a safe deposit for the ]niblic 
moneys; then for the general governinent to launch 
out into a general system of public im|)rovements, 
such as roads, canals and extensive improvemenis of nat- 
ural water ways, etc., etc. Our tariff taxes then were 
only about twenty percent, and the whig party (Henry 
Clay, of Kentucky, at its head) wanted it increased to 
twentv-five or twenty-eight per cent. The bank 
was ostensibly to serve as a place of tleposit for the 
public funds, but in fact those public funds were to be 
used for the private enrichment of favored individuals^ 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 23 

(the same as Cook county, Illinois, officials have annu- 
ally for twenty years in detiance of law, stolen from 
the people fortunes every year). The scheme to have 
the general government undertake and do all jiublic 
work, was, in fact, to make tlie works cost as much as 
possible; and secondly', to be executed and cari-ied on 
by combines and favorites. Very few pul)lic speakers 
in East Tennessee, in that campaign, cared to go very 
deeply into the merits of the questions. The Demo- 
crats, so far as they could challenged the Whigs to 
mutual discussions, but the challenge was seldom ac- 
cepted. 

After I had finished "laying by" the corn in 
iVugust of that year, I took my first lesson in stump 
speaking against Harrison ; I canvassed most of my 
county against a United States Bank ; against internal 
improvements, by the general government ; and 
against any increase of tariff taxation ; of course, I got 
my data and arguments from the leading low-tariff 
democrats of that dixy But cool discussion and sober 
reason were not just then popular, or in deniand, and 
the wliole campaign was carried on with whoop-whoop- 
hurrah for hard cider, log-cabins and coon skins. The 
effort was to put the whig party in power and to 
make a saint and hero of old man Harrison, to do 
which he was depicted as a very humble old man, who 
had fought the battle of Tippecanoe (a locality still 
existing in Indiana), lived in a log-hut with coon skins 
for doors and windows, and his favorite beverage was 
alleged to be /ia7'd cider/ The whole thing was a 
shrewd farce — but as only one man in ten is governed 
by anything but show and noise and fallacy, so in that 
case, nonsense carried the day — " Granny Harrison " 



24 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

wus elected. lie had tlie grace to tlie soon after inau- 
guration, and John Tyler, the vice-president, succeeded 
to the presidency. Tyler too went back on some of 
the declarations of his party and vetoed a bill passed 
creating a United States Bank, on which account he 
was cordially abused and execrated by the friends of 
that measure for many years after. Old General Har- 
rison was quite the opposite in fact to the humble den- 
izen of a log-cabin. He was a full blooded F. F. Y., 
and had been in public ofKce almost from boyhood — 
the recipient of a salary from the public, and he 
improved op))ortunities to make gooil investments for 
that ch\y and time, in the new fi-ontiers and in Ohio, 
He had valuable landed propei'ty at North Bend, on 
the Ohio river, antl when he could no longer get an 
office under the general government, he turned his 
attentions to the then young and growing city of Cin- 
cinnati, where he held the best paying offices the 
city and county afforded. The facts showed he was 
a wealthy man for that period. His sons were numer- 
ous, and his grandsons, nephews and grand-nephews 
difficult to count and all born with a label " For a pub- 
lic office." As a general thing thev have secured 
office, and have all been true to the theory and doc- 
trine that the masses shoukl care for and enrich the 
classes, and yield Milling obedience to the latter as 
their (.livinely appointed paternal governors. 

One is fully justified in believing that this has been 
the question at issue among men since — long before 
Moses' time, and will be so long as men are on this 
earth. 

The foregoing is quite enough to say about a 
bov from his cradle to his nineteenth year. Bovs are 



REMINISCEN'CES FROM DIARY. 25 

pretty much alike, and are uninteresting- animals in 
infancy to all save fond mothers. Troublesome and 
vexatious in youth, and ;ipt to o-ive otiiers much anx- 
letv as they g-row older. I discover I have said noth- 
ing about my materjial (jrandfatJtet\ who, more than 
many others, deserves a moi'e extended notice than I 
have S])ace to spare. My beloved and sainted mother, 
Mahala Taylor, was the daughter of Colonel Parmenas 
Taylor, after whom the writer was named. Parmenas 
Taylor was born in April, 1753, near the line between 
Virginia and North Carolina, but in which State I never 
learned. He entered the Colonial Army the same year 
the Revolution of 177C began, and continued therein 
until its close, 1783. He was Captain in Colonel White's 
regiment of North Carolina, was taken prisoner by the 
English and kept for nearly a year; during which time 
they made him work in their arsenals, rej)airing guns, 
by which he became a j)retty good gunsmith. After 
that war he married Colonel White's daughtei', Bett}', 
and he also removed to a rich body of land on the 
French-Broad River, on the opposite side, liowever. 
from my grandfatlier Turnle}'. Taylor was six feet 
six inches tall in his bare feet, weighed 210 pounds, at 
the prime of life, not fleshy but muscular, active 
and powerful in strength. He was a member of the 
convention winch formed the first State Constitution 
of Tennessee, w^as a fine land survevor, atid a much 
respected justice of the peace. He had two brothers, 
Richard and Joseph, one older than himself, and the 
older brother was the father of Zachary Taylor, of 
Mexican War fame, who was elected President of the 
United States, November, 18i8 ; took his seat ]\Iarch, 
18i9, and died of a coinhhraf'ion of poViticul nfovrbnent^ 



26 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

impoi'tunities of office-seekers and bilious colic, July 9, 
1850. Zachary Tayloi- was a sterling man much like 
his uncle (my grandfather). 

CHAPTER II. 



The spring of 1841, in Eastern Tennessee, was unusu- 
ally wet. Rains prevailed generally. And early in 
February all water courses were running full — many 
of them out of their banks. The French-Broad River 
overflowed in many places ; and ni}^ father's river bot- 
toni lands, which were bounded b}' the south bank of 
the river for more than a mile in length, were covered 
with water varying from a few inches to six feet in 
depth, according to the undulations of the surface. 
The cold rains and high water delayed spring plowing, 
while the \vater over the low bottom lands prevented, 
all work on that jmrt of the farm. This high water, 
however, favored the flat-boat business ; and those 
'boats — by scores — began to descend the river so soon 
as the water had fallen sufficiently to make the steer- 
ing, landing- and management of loaded flat-boats prac- 
tically safe. 

These boats, as then constructed, have measurably 
gone out of use — though a much larger and better- 
'•scow'^or flat-boat has been introduced on the Ohio 
River to carry coal. The Tennessee flat-boats of that 
da}' were generally from forty-tive to sixty feet in 
length and eighteen to twentv feet wide, consisting of 
two side gun-wales (or in Tennessee vernacular, "gun- 
nels ''), hewed out of a large tree, poplar generally, the 
length the boat was to be, and as wide as the tree 
would make, say eighteen to thirty inches, and hewed 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 27 

to a thickness of about five inches on one edge, and 
three on the other ; cross-timbers, four by six inches 
and in length equal to the width of the boat ; also, 
"streamers,'' or "stringers" three by six, with " head- 
blocks " at the ends, comprise the frame-work of a 
fiat-boat. Then the bottom of two-inch ])lank, gen- 
erally put on crosswise of the boat, fastened with 
wooden pins — requiring an auger iiole to be bored for 
each pin — and generall}' eight pins to each plank. 
This was before the large nails or "spikes" had come 
into general use. It will be perceived that boring- 
holes and making and driving the pins was no small 
part of the work. Say a boat fifty feet long and 
twenty feet wide — requiring fifty planks one foot wide 
to bottom it— and through each plank and into the 
stringers were eight one inch auger holes bored never 
less than live inches deep, this made at least four hun- 
dred auger holes and four Imndred pitis necessary. Nor 
was the present patent auger then in use, but only the 
old auger with its handle, requiring two motions to 
make one i-evolution. The boat was framed and bot- 
tomed "up side down," and when "calked and 
pitched," neighbors and friends were invited (as to 
"log rolhngs") to come and assist in turning it over. 
Of course, it was framed as close to the water's edge as 
practicable, and when ready to be turned over, a large 
pile of brush was first placed close to the edge of the 
Avater, partly in it, on which the boat woukl fall as it 
went over. This eased the shock and prevented 
breaking the timbers. Once in the water, studding, or 
posts, two by four, of proper height, were morticed 
into the upper edge of the "gunnels" and the upper 
ends of these posts were connected by arched boards 



28 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

foi" rafters, on which were placed the roof boards, 
which were always laul crosswise of tiie boat, and only 
one-half inch thick so they would bend to the curve of 
the arched rafter. This compriseil the old time Ten- 
nessee anil jNfississippi "flat-boat," hundreds of which 
descended t!ie rivers annually with such products as 
the peo])le iiad to spare foi' sale. Bacon, corn, flour 
and potatoes compi-ised the fai'niers' ])roducts, which 
could only And market by ttoating down the rivers on 
these boats. The few small iron works and forges, 
likewise, shipped surplus iron, nails and castings ; as 
did the small salt works their surplus salt, over and 
above local consumption. 

I have somewhat digressed from my narrative in 
order to describe the flat-boat, mode of construction 
and use, simply because tlie thing is so nearly out of 
date and forgotten that ere long some school chiklren 
will wonder what a flat-boat was. in limes long past. 

To return to the farm. In April, 1841, my father 
had gone down the river with the flotilla of these 
boats and left me to manage the farm. I had four 
hands hired, and by the 1st of April had the oats 
sowed on twenty aci'es, and on the 5th of May had 
nearb; all the corn planted on sixty acres of land, and 
the flrst planting was up ready to plow, about the 15th 
of May. I was plowing, myself, with a flue fast 
walking young horse, one of my own breaking, the corn 
about aidile high, when the post nuiil arrived at the office, 
"Oak Grove." which was on our farm though a mile 
from whei'e I was at work. At dinner that day 1 
received a large white envelope from "Washington City. 
It proved to be an appointment as cadet to West Point 
Military Academy. A formidable document for a 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 29 

green fariner boy like myselt' to receive or fully com- 
prehend. Father being away, and having all I could 
do to carry on the farm work and looking aftei- the 
water saw-mill and agrist-mill, I did not give the paper 
much consideration for some days. My mother had 
read it, however, and i-ecalled the fact that two or 
three years previously, Mr. William B. Carter, then a 
member of Congress from that district, had staid all 
night at our house on his electioneering trip, and had 
said that when he again visited AVashington City he 
would place my nanie on the "Koll of Applicants" 
for a cadetship. This circumstance, however, had 
been forgotten till this letter brought it to mind. 
What to do or say about it was the question. Had 
father been at home, the matter would have been more 
easily solved. Personally, I was about equally divided, 
in my own m.nd, whether to accej)t or decline. Mother 
wished me to decline it.. I continued at inv work in 

the field with the other men. not reallv thinkin*'- much 

- o 

about what I would do. 

The educational requirements to ])ass the first 
examination were briefly narrated l)y a printed slip in 
the communication, that one must read and write a cor- 
rect and legible hand, understand the fourground rules 
of arithmetic, vulgar and decimal fractions, simple and 
compound proportion, etc. After readin<^-it carefullv, 
I did not believe I could meet the requirements. 1 
had never been to school, save two months in the 
winter season, for about four winters, all told less than 
twelve montlis of schooling, and that at the little log 
school-house a mile distant in the woods, conveniently 
situated to accommodate the farmers' boys and girls. 

The farming boys worked harder at ''town ball" 
and "bull pen" than at study and so had I. In fact 



30 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

about the only education I had was obtained at home. 
My two older sisters taught me how to read and spell, the 
little I knew ; mother taught me to write a little also, 
and my father directed me in arithmetic so far as to 
enable me to measure saw logs and lumber at our water 
mill, to measure and weigh grain, flour and bacon, and 
and to weigh out and compute the price of live hogs in 
the pen, in the autumn, when they were to be driven 
to market in Georgia and the Carolinas ; but I was far 
from "proficient" in the "four ground rules," nor did 
I know fractions of any kind, as well as a West Point 
examination contemplated. All these facts I consid- 
ered, and I was not assured of my ability to accept ; 
besides, there Avas no money in the country — " shin- 
plasters" were used as a substitute and none of it was 
o-ood beyond the State line. In fact, much of it, issued 
by counties, was good only in the county, and it re- 
quired silver and gold, or else eastern money, to pay 
one's way to New York. This phase of the matter 
made my acceptance very doubtful. However, just 
then, to mv surprise, my father arrived home. He had 
arranged to have others take the flat-boats on to New 
Orleans from Ross', Gunter's and Detto's landings on 
the Tennessee river (now the city of Chattanooga), 
and this left him free to return home. He at once took 
up tlie subject and said, by all means, I must accept and 
o-o — even if I had to walk! He had last walked more 
than half the way from Detto's landing home (over a 
hundred miles), and was ju'epared to recommend an}' 
amount of leg-serviee to me — so active and robust ! 
Mother rather held back — she preferred I should stay 
at home. I was then old enough to manage affairs on 
the farm and at the mills. Father never was a good 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 31 

mana(>ei' of siicli matters, he was away from home a 
great deal, which had usually thrown such management 
on to my mother, and she realized the fact that I, her 
oldest son, was just then competent to relieve her of 
much care and vastly improve on father's slipshod and 
uncertain metliods. This is not flattering to one's sire 
— but, like Washington, I must tell the truth. How- 
ever, it was decided I sliould accept, and the first thing 
to be done was to go to Dandridge (the county seat), 
eight miles distant, and spend ten days reviewing and 
being instructed in these '''foiLV ground rules of arith- 
7)ieticr This I did, and assumed to graduate therein 
in that ten days! This was nearing the last week in 
May, and, as yet, I had made no progress in collecting 
money for the long trip. Tlie distance was about eight 
hundred miles, with the old fashioned country two-horse 
stage hack running most of the way to Winchester, 
Virginia, thence to Baltimore, and might be b}^ stage 
or the recently started steam cars, or by boat, on to 
New Tork City ; but it required about ten cents j)er 
mile, fares, besides other expenses. I scoured the neigh- 
borhood in my effort to exchange a hat full of '-shin- 
plasters'' for silver or gold, but with ail of mv efforts 
could only raise thirty-six dollars and thirty-six cents 
in hard cash ! Meanwhile mother had jmt up into a 
pillow case what clothing she supposed I would need — 
every article of which was made in the house from cot- 
ton and flax raised on the farm — thinking, of course, the 
stage that carrietl me would carry my bag. But as I 
failed to raise the money to ride I had to walk, and 
therefore could not take the bag, nor all the clothing. 
This was a first lesson in reducing baggage. I tied up 
a simple change of socks and shirts in a Inro-e cotton 



82 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

bandanna, and on the briglit morning of June 2, 1841, 
I set out on foot on the main stage road for New York, 
by way of Winchester, Virginia, leaving after break- 
fast, about eight o'clock. That night 1 slept at a farm 
house on the State road near Greenville, Tennessee, 
having made thirty miles. The next day, June 3d, I 
reached the village of Elizabethton, which I thought to 
be about thirty miles. It was a pretty hard day's walk, 
as the sun was intensely hot. I was quite ready to fall 
asleep soon after I had supper at the little frame cottage- 
like tavern. After an early breakfast and paying my bill, 
which was sixty cents, I resumed my tramp on the old 
State road. Eeaching Abingdon, Virginia, after dusk, 
I stopped at the old Washington Hotel, and being ver}^ 
tired, immediately after supper bathed my feet, which 
were beginning to feel very sore, as they naturally 
would, being much blistered, for I had unfortunately 
started out with a new pair gf shoes instead of wearing 
my old ones. The next morning I felt very sore all 
over, and little like resuming my travel on foot, but my 
limited cash was a fact I could not ignore. I was up 
almost with the sun, and called for early breakfast. 1 
learned that the two-horse mail coach, or hack, would 
leave that morning for Wytheville, fifty-five miles ; I 
debated in my mind for a minute and concluded to in- 
vest live dollars in stage fare to Wytheville, and thus 
o^ain at least some rest for mv sore feet while making 
the distance. I paid my bill at Abingdon, $1.25, and 
was off in the stage. I was glad of the chance, for the 
dav was intensely hot, so that the horses really did not 
average over six miles an hour. I had a good night's 
rest at Wytheville, an early breakfast, paid my bill, 
seventy-five cents, and by six a. m., June 6, was again 



REMINISCEKCES FROi\I DIARY. 33 

on the road. I reached Pulaski, a distance of fifteen 
miles, by noon, where I ^ot a dinner for twenty-five 
cents, rested two hours and then pushed on to New 
Castle, ten miles further; making twenty-five miles 
that day. My feet by this time had become very sore 
and blistered. It woukl have been a relief to have gone 
bare-foot but for the gravel and macadam roads. I 
bathed my feet in warm water — which I discovered 
was more soothing and healing than cold water, took 
an early breakfast, and that day reached Christians- 
burg, twenty-five miles. After paying my bill of fifty 
cents I started out again, reaching Salem, by way of 
Shav.'sville, a distance of thirty miles. 

That night the man I stopped with asked me 
many questions as to where I was from and wiiere I 
was going. I answered him /rankly and he seemed 
much surprised that I should be on such a long journey 
a-foot. Ijefore retiring to bed, I learned he owned a, 
saw-mill near by and he was regretting the severe 
sickness of his sawj^er (a negro man slave). He had 
promised a lot of lumber by a certain time and had the 
logs at the mill with everything in readiness only the 
sawyer. I told him I was a practical and experienced 
sawyer, and if we could agree as to terms, I would stop 
over a few days and saw up his logs. He then asked 
me what I would charge. I told him I would go early 
in the morning and look at his mill and logs and give 
him answer by breakfast. I asked him about what 
amount of lumber his mill would cut a day. He said 
.his negro man had cut as much as twelve hundred feet 
between sunrise and sunset. So I went to sleep and 
before sun-up a negro boy took me to the mill, which I 
found to be a little old countrv '' under-shot " or 



S4 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

" fluterwheel" crank and sash saw-mill, M-ith plenty of 
water-power, and a fine lot of nice pine saw logs on 
hand. Returning to the house for breakfast I told 
the man I would run his mill three days for 
three dollars a day. He would not give me 
this, but would give two dollars a day (the rates at 
which the best carpenters and mechanics were then 
working for in that part of the country). I declined 
this. Then he asked me what I would charge per 
hundred feet or per thousand feet to cut up his lot of 
logs. I figured a moment and replied, that if he would 
furnish me an able and active man to carry out the 
saw^ed lumber, and assist putting on logs, 1 would cut 
up his pile of logs for two dollars per thousand feet, or 
twenty cents per hundred, but that I must have the 
man to work regardless of hours night and day. This 
woke him up to the fact that I meant business. He 
was not long in accepting my offer and I was glad he 
rejected my first. After breakfast (this was June 9th) 
he assigned me a fine, active negro man as my help, 
and by dark that day I had cut 1,500 feet. After 
supper, with two lanterns and a pine knot fire in the 
mill-yard, we resumed sawing and by sun-up next 
morning, I had put out another 1,500 feet ; that day 
(June 10th) 1 put out 2,000 feet by dark, and that night 
I put out 1,500 feet, and by day dawn had cut up 
the last log, making a total of 6,500 feet in -18 hours, 
half of which was night work. The man came to the 
mill just as I was putting out the last log, and saw the 
work was all done. He was satisfied, but dumfounded 
at the rapidity with which I had slashed up his pile of 
logs. He paid me $13.00 and I gave him $2.00 of it 
for my board and lodging one night. After a good 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 35 

old-fashioned Virginia breakfast of biscuit, fried 
chicken, good coffee, milk and butter, 1 resumed my 
tramp and slept that night, which was June 11th, at 
Fincastle, making only 15 miles, as I was pretty well 
used up, having woi'ked constantly for two days and 
nights, without sleep. 1 venture the assertion that 
negro man never had such a roust-a-bout in his life be- 
fore, I guess he slept two days and nights to make up 
lost time, June 12th I went to the Natural Bridge, 
20 miles, and the 13tli I reached Lexington. I cast 
long and wistful olances at the fine Lexington Militarv 
school, and bemoaned, if I did not curse my ill-luck, in 
not havmg the almighty dollars tliat would enable me 
to enter that collefje instead of truds^ing on the hot 
roads to the east. 

The weather was dry and the heat intense, in fact, 
that was one of my hardest days' travel, but I made 
the trip by dark. This was ni}' ninth day on the road. 
Next morning, June 14, I awoke with the morning- 
drum, paid ray bill, seventy-five cents, and that day 
made Staunton, thirty-five miles distant. Next day, 
after paying my bill of seventy-five cents, I started out, 
and reached Harrisonburgh, thirty miles. June 16th, 
paid bill, seventv-five cents, and that evening found me 
at Woodstock. Next day paid bill of seventy-five cents 
and trudged on, reaching Strasberg by noon, where I 
had dinner, for which I paid twenty-five cents, rested a 
short time, then pushed on, reaching Winchester that 
evening, making thirty-three miles that day — very 
tired and foot-sore. 



36 



REMIxNflSCENCES FROM DIARY. 



RECAPlTUIiATION. 



CaS'h at startinf^, June 2, 
Received for sawing lumber, 



Total, 



$86. 3& 
13.00 

$49.36 



ITINEIURY — FROM DANDRIDGE, TENN., TO WINCHESTER, VA. 

1841— Juue 



" 9 



2, To 


Greenville, Tenn., - 30 miles, cost 


$0.75 


3, " 


Elizabfcthton, Tenn., - 30 " 


.60 


4. " 


Abingdon, Virginia, - 30 " 


1.25 


5, '• 


Wylliville, Virginia (stage), 55 " " 


5.75 


(i, " 


Newcastle, Virginia, - 25 " •' 


.75 


7, " 


Christiansburg, Virginia, 25 


.50 


8. " 


Salem, Virginia, - - 30 " 


.75- 


and 10 


Run a saw mill and received, net, $13.00. 




11, To 


Natural Bridge, Virginia, 35 miles, cost 


1.00 


12, " 


Lexington, Virginia, - 30 


.75 


13, " 


Staunton, Virginia, - 35 " " 


.75- 


14, " 


Harrisonburg, Virginia, 30 " 


.75 


15, " 


Woodstock, Virginia, - 30 " " 


.7^ 


16, " 


"Winchester, Virginia, 33 " " 


1.25 


, 15, days; distance, 418 miles; total cost, - 


$15.60 



Deducting the 55 miles ridden in the stage would 
leave just 363 miles walked in twelve daN's, making a 
daily average of thirty and one-quarter miles ; and 
likewise deducting the five dollars stage-fare would 
leave an average daily expenditure of eighty-eight 
cents. 

That night, after supper, I bathed my feet, as usual, 
and was soon sound asleep in that historical village of 
Winchester — not, however, until I had made inquiry 
as to the route to Baltimore. I learned that the steam 
,cars plied between Winchester and Baltimore dailv^ 
making the trip in a few hours; that the fare was $2 50, 
and while dropping to sleep I determined to ride on the 
first steam cars and railway I had ever seen. Accord- 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 37 

ingly, bright and early on the morning of June 15th, I 
got a hasty breakfast, paid my bill and went to the 
railway station, with my bundle, and was soon on my 
wa}^ to Baltimore, where I arrived that afternoon. 

I plied the conductor and brakeman, on the way, 
with questions as to the best and cheapest wa\^ to get 
on to New York City, and was told that by a boat 
leaving Baltimore almost daily, I could secure cheap 
and speedy passage. They also discovered I was a 
green, backwoods specimen, quite as iimocent of 
wrong-doing as I was the ways of a big cit}' and they 
were very kind in directing me to the proper wharf 
and office to find a vessel. I thanked them and greatly 
])rofited by their good counsel. I found a freight 
steamer about leaving and went on board that night. 
I made myself at home after paying my passage, 
■which was $3.75. I paid for such meals as I called for, 
file total cost of my transit from Baltimore to New 
York being $4.50, where I arrived June 20Lh. When 
quiet on board, I took account of my cash and 
found 1 had expended from Tennessee to Winchestei" 
$15.60 from Winchester to Baltimore, $2.50 and 
thence to New York $4.50, making a total of $22.60, 
leaving me still in pocket, including my saw-mill earn- 
ings, $16.76. Arriving in New York, at one of the 
piers or wharves, but exactly where or the name of it 
I failed to note on my diary, but, by inquiring, I was 
<:lirected to the Fulton hotel, even that I failed to 
note or locate for future use and all I could recollect 
about it was, that it was by ten times the largest 
*' tavern" I had ever seen. I ambled up to the clerk's 
counter, and he poked a pen at me, whirled his register 
in mv front, to res'ister mv name which I did. I wrote 



;^8 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

my name only at lirst, but the clerk, after casting his- 
eagle eye on me a second time, pushed the book back 
to me and said : " Please state where you are from/' 
I did so. writing '■ Tennessee " and atlded in the col- 
umn for remarks, "For West Point." I thought I could 
see the cold sweat drop from that clerk's forehead^ 
when he read what I iiad put on his register. I 
verilv believe, had I not added where I was ffoing- 
that I would have been fired out and turned over to 
the police. Because my appearance, in homespun 
pants, coat and vest, with no cravat but a high, old- 
style homespun shirt collar I had put on at Win- 
chester, shoes that never had seen blacking, although 
Avell greased with hog's lard, mv face and hands 
l)ronzed yellow and tough, ^vith unkempt hair for I 
had not seen comb or brush for over three weeks, and 
a very slouch, well-worn, straw hat of the country 
make and style well bleached by the sun. Altogetherj- 
I was a rare specimen, indeed, to stumble into a larga 
hotel in a large city, and expect to escape susi:)icion of 
appearing in disguise. When the clerk read West 
Point as my destination, and his cold chill had passed^ 
he leaned over the counter and said : "I suppose you 
are a new appointment to West Point and on your 
way there." '" Yes, sir;" said I, as cool and self-pos- 
sessed as though I were the equal of the scores of well- 
dressed and well-mannered gentlemen then promenad- 
ing the lobby of the hotel. "Will you have suppeiT' 
"No, thank you, I took supper on the boat which 
brought me from Baltimore," I replied. "We will 
have to give you a room very high up to-night, we are 
so crowded," said the clerk. "No matter," said I^ 
"anything will do me for the night." The clerk 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 39 

motioned to a lad sitting on a bench near by, who 
came forward and reached for in}' cotton bandanna 
and contents, but I kept hold of it till the clerk said : 
"This boy will show you the room." This remark 
explained matters, and also gave me the opportunity 
to ask the clerk if he could inform me as to the best 
route to West Point, which I understood was about 
fifty miles above that city, on the Hudson river. I 
shall never forget the kindly, even pitying look that 
clerk gave me at that moment. "Yes," said he, "do 
you wish to go in the morningf' I said I did. "Then 
you will take the steamer, George Washington, which 
leaves after noon for West Point and other places on 
the Hudson river." With this definite information to 
sleep on, I followed the boy up more flights of stairs 
than I kept count of, then, traversing a long hall^ 
reached the room assigned me. The boy carried a 
lamp which gave a very good light; but I felt nausea 
at the odor of the oil in it, and learned from the boy 
that it was whale oil. That was my first acquaintance 
with the disagreeable odor of whale oil. I have never 
since got to like it any better than at first. Whale oil 
is to me, the most nauseating and disagreeable article 
of commerce and it was my ill fortune to be compelled 
to use it dady for five long years thereafter. I had a 
glorious night's rest and sleep. The rumbling noise in 
the streets below my room was sufficiently deadened 
b}' distance and intervening walls as to rather lull me 
to sleep, and it was 7 o'clock the next morning before 
I woke. My toilet was not of the kind wdiich required 
much time^ and I think I had washed face and hands 
and was read}'^ to leave my room in about five minutes 
after waking from sleep. I opened my door and took 



40 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

a searching look down tlie long- bull, then recalled the 
uncounted number of stairs T had ascended and con- 
clnded I had best pull a bell cord 1 saw hanging in my 
room and see if I could get a guide. A'erv soon a boy 
came up in answer, and I told him I wanted to be 
piloted to the clerk's office, which was promptly done. 
To my surprise, the clerk of the previous night was 
not there — but a new one — in fact one of the jiroprie- 
tors was then on dutv. He g-ave me a most witherino- 
look, but said not a word. I moved up to his counter 
and remarked: ''I would like to have breakfast with 
you, if agreeable." "Are you registeredT'' " Yes, here's 
my name,'' pointing to it on the open book. "Have 
you a trunkr' "No, sir; I have only this bundle in 
my hand." "Did you sleep in this house last nights" 
" Yes, thank you, very nicelv. I had the best night's 
rest and sleep I have had for some weeks." The man 
looked amazed for a moment, turned to the book to 
see the number of m\' room, then drummed his fingers 
on the desk a few seconds, and motioned for a boy to 
show me where to get breakfast, I leaving my bundle 
on his counter. A tiptop breakfast I got, too, regard- 
less of cost, because my mind was not on the cost of 
breakfast. I thought of nothing different than the 
Tennessee and Virginia twenty-five cent bi'eakfasts ; 
when through I repaired to the counter to pay my bill 
and was told it was two dollars. I thought that was 
pretty steep for a bed and breakfast, but paid it. and 
said nothing. I have often wondered since then he did 
not ask pa\^ in advance. I then asked him if he would be 
so kind as to send a boy with me to the first steamer 
leaving for West Point, He gave me another searching 
look and said : " Yes; here boy, get your hat and show 



REMINISCE NX'ES FROM DIARY. 41 

this young man to the steamer Georo-e AVashinoton, 
iind hurry back." With that I bid him "good by" and 
reached over the counter to take his hand, l)Ul iio only 
gave me one finger, and looked as if he felt ashamed 
at doing- even that. Of course, it was ridiculous in me 
to offer to shake hands with a landlord whom I had 
never seen before, and never would see again ; but 1 
was a cliild of a backwoods country custom, a'nd too 
green and unsophisticated to discover diiferences be- 
tween rural districts and Gotham. No doubt that ])ro- 
])rietor began to feel a real sympathy for one so gi'een 
as I was. 

Leaving the ever memorable Fnlton Hotel, after 
that sumptuous breakfast, morning of June 21st, tlie 
''boy'" soon guided me to the steamer. I thanked the 
lad and gave him a parting hand shake. It never 
occured to me to offer him a dime, which, in my back- 
woods village, would have been an insult; but I have 
since felt no doubt that the boy was disappointed, not 
to say disgusted, not to receive what in later times is 
the ever expected "tip.'' Excepting the freight boat I 
took at Baltimore, I now boarded the first steamboat 1 
had ever seen, and as I discovered the people on it were 
free and eas}' to stroll round at pleasure, I imitated 
them and was not long in exploring nearly all parts of 
the vessel. Being safely on board, I was not anxious 
as to the hour she would start, but was so as to when 
we would ai-rive at West Point. This, I learned, would 
be at six r. m., so I made myself easy. I was not uj) to 
the custom and convenience of depositing my bundle 
with the porter, but kept it in my hand while wander- 
ing about, or by my side when seated. The forenoon 
was a long one to me. At twelve m. a bell sounded for 



42 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

the crew to take dinner, in which, however, 1 took no 
part, as my breakfast was too recent and ample to feel 
hnngry. I contemplated with no little wonder the 
throngs of people who began to come on board early 
in the afternoon, and by two r. m. we were otf, puffing 
lip the Hudson. I had worked one year at home with an 
okler cousin, a miil-wright, in building the old-time 
water ^aw-mill, and grist-mill, and I had personally run 
that kind of mill on my father's place every winter for 
three years, and was therefore somewhat conversant 
with wheels in motion, when propelled by a power I 
could see and handle; but steam, as a power, quite 
baitied my comprehension, while massive iron 
machinery was such a contrast to the rustic wooden 
appliances, I was lost in admiration of the apparent 
ease and accuracy of all the parts in motion. I began 
to wish West Point was out of ni}'' mind and that I 
could begin an apprentice engineer on that steamer. 
Learning upon inquiry that we were approaching West 
Point, I stood near the guard rail to see all 1 could, and 
watch our landing. In those days all steamers landed 
some distance above what is known as "Gees" Point, 
at the " Batterv." The boat swung into shore grace- 
fully and a line was thrown over a stake, the gang- 
plank run out, and I was one of three, only, who got off 
there. ]\[eeting a soldier, on guard, in his uniform, 
walking his post, I asked him where I could find a 
tavern for the night. Fortunately, he was not an 
American, or he would have laughed at my greenness, 
but being a polite Irishman antl a trained soldier he 
readily, took in the situation and thought only of what 
I required ; he directed me to the West Point Hotel, 
on top of the hill, then kept by Mr. Rider. The 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 43 

soldier pointed to the path T sliould follow to reach the 
house and resumed his post. Tliis was about half-past 
five p. u. when I reached the hotel and asked for accom- 
modation for the night, but was informed that I could 
not {jet room or bed. The desk clerk asked me if I was 
a candidate to the acadera3\ I replied, "Yes." " Then," 
said he, "3'ou can have supper after a while, and we 
will manage to give you a blanket on the floor." "All 
right," said I, "unything will suit me." With this he 
took my bundle and gave me a paper check. I turned 
m}^ bewildered mind to contem])lating the many army 
officers in their bright uniforms, and a score of cadets 
Avith their neat fitting gray coats, bullet buttons and 
short tails; all flitting out and in, escorting ladies and 
pretty girls around the gravel walks. This continued 
till after dusk, when I was told I could have supper. 
After supper the large military band assembled in the 
yard fronting the hotel piazza, with lanterns and music. 
It was the period when the annual examination was in 
progress, and the board of visitors and board of exam- 
iners were there together with many citizen visitors, 
army officers, etc., etc. General Scott was conspicuous 
on the piazza, as also his wife and three daughters,. 
Misses Cornelia, Camilla and Ella, whom I afterwards 
became acquainted with. 1 had never seen or beard a 
military band before, and when they began playing 
(as was the usual custom at the evening entertain- 
ment for the guests at the hotel) I became absorbed in 
the music. I walked around the musicians, viewed them 
from every standpomt, in doing which I unconsciously 
walked over some nice flower beds, because the hotel 
yard was, in fact, laid out in flower-beds with gi'avel 
walks between, but in my abstracted state of mind for 



44 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

the music I failed to see them till an orderly on duty 
came to me and told me, I must not ** tread on the 
flower beds." This brought my attention to my 
involuntary vandalism, right there in the midst of 
everything that was refined and elegant. I felt so 
ashamed of myself that I went to the clerk in the office 
and asked for a blanket and a soft board. I fell asleep 
under the lulling strains of that music. 

Bright and early the next morning, June 22d, I got 
a little breakfast, inquired of the clerk how and where 
I could find the proper person to report to, and he 
kindly sent a boy with me to the office of the adjutant 
of the jiost, where I sat for an hour till that officer 
came in to his work. I then presented my credentials, 
signed the book, ^nd was assigned to a 12x14 room, in 
the then old " South Barracks," along with four other 
j)lehes, or candidates, some of whom had arrived only a 
day or two before, and were awaiting examination for 
admittance. As years have tied, and the scythe of 
time has laid all save myself in its swath, it is fitting 
that I name them : Charles P. Stone, of Massachusetts ; 
George Edwards, of New York ; James T. Armstrong, 
of Tennessee ; R. E. Graves, of Kentucky, and I made 
the fifth. Only Stone, I think, had a mattress, the rest 
w^ere provided with a blanket and all lay on the iioor. 
The four named had three nights experience in being 
^' hazed'' by the older cadets, and 1 was therefore a new 
subject to worli on. The first night, I was roused up 
after midnight bv a couple of older cadets coming into 
the room, where the}"^ found me, like the others, on ray 
blanket on the floor. They ordered me to get up, and 
put my blanket on the wide but very short shelf at the 
side of the fire-jdace and lie there, giving me as a reason 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 45 

that no more than four were allowed to sleep on the 
rtoor of those rooms, and my four room-mates iiad pre- 
pared the way by telling me the same thing the 
previous day. As 1 afterwards learned, these four 
room-mates had been let into the secret, and helped to 
carry it out by their advice to me that day, and their 
assent to the fact, of course, induced my verdant soul 
to acquiesce. Never was a harmless trick more 
thoroughly successful. Greenness hardly expressed my 
supreme verdancy. I had never even been to boarding 
scliool, where tricks became common amusement, and I 
could not think of questioning the orders of those fully 
equipt fellows whose solemn countenances and stern 
words seemed to carry conviction. All this time, my 
four room-mates pretented to be fast asleep, but in fact 
Avere stuffing their night-shirts into their mouths to 
keep from laughing. My desire was to obey oi'ders, 
which I did promptly. The amusing part of it was, 
the shelf on which I was to take my place was put into 
each of those rooms just alike, and just fitted in 
between the side of the room and the brick jam of the 
fire place. It was a very wide shelf, (eighteen inches) 
but a little less than three feet long ; as I was five feet 
five inches tall, it was evident that little comfort could 
be expected from a bed on that shelf. By day-light, 
Armstrong woke up with a horse-laugh at me (his 
brother Tennesseean) for sleeping on the shelf. I soon 
discovered the trick, and joined the others in their 
laugh. As a soothing balm to my feelings I found out 
that only a few nights before one of them had " slept 
on the shelf." This was the only attempt to " haze"' 
m(; or any one else in that room thereafter. 

While the new candidates are thus assembling, the 
four old classes are beine; examined on their vear's 



46 REMINISCEN'CES FROM DIARY. 

course, the senior class to receive diplomas ; and in order 
to keep these new arrivals busy, as well as to gradually 
discover their proficiencv, they are divided into sections, 
12 to 18 in a section, and are daily marched to the 
Academic Hall and there recite to some of the old 
cadets on arithmetic, grammar, writing, etc., etc. I 
was assigned to one of these sections and began recita- 
tions. To my sorrow, I soon discovered that I was far 
behind the others in the section. I made up my mind 
to try and get my appointment extended over to the 
next year. Mathematics required familiarity with the 
four ground rules of addition, multiplication, sub- 
traction and division, also to perform with facility and 
rapidity all examples in vulgar and decimal fractions, 
converting rapidly one kind of fraction into the other 
and dividing, multiplying and subtracting one from the 
other. Also in simple and compound proportion to under- 
stand and perform any example given 3^00 at the black- 
board. In English grammar, must be familiar with the 
parts of speech, be able to parse anv sentence given and 
thoroughly understand all rules and subjects usually 
taught in the higher academies and schools, as compre- 
hended under the head of orthogi-aphy, etymology, 
syntax and prosody. In descriptive geography, to 
name and locate the natural grand political divisions of 
the earth and be able to delineate any one of the States 
or Territories of the United States, with its principal 
cities, rivers, lakes, sea ports and mountains. In his- 
tory, name periods of discover}^ and settlement of the 
North American continent, of the rise and progress of 
the United States, and the administrations of govern- 
ment. It is not strange, that a few da^'S in the section 
room, with fift\' others reciting on those subjects (many 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 47 

■of whom had been through a three years' course in col- 
lege, and scarcely one but had spent years at school), 
convinced me tluit I was a back number and not at all 
up to the requirements. Thus believing, I appealed to 
the chaplain, Professor M. P. Parks, himself an old 
graduate, to aid me in getting the War Department, at 
"Washington, to withhold my appointment till the fol- 
lowing year. My appeal was successful, and I went to 
Mr. Z. J. D. Kinsley's preparatory school, a mile and a 
half below West Point, and began a thorough course of 
preparation. This gave me a 3'ear's start. While at 
Kinsley's, during the winter and spring of 1842, there 
came to his school two grandsons of President Harri- 
son, who had died A[)ril, 1841. These two bovs were 
cousins and had been with their grandfather at the 
White-house till his death, but soon thereafter arrano'ed 
to prepare to enter West Point in June, 1812. I had 
so far progressed by January, 1842, that 1 received 
from Kinsley my board and tuition and ten dollars a 
month for teaching a class in mathematics, among whom 
were the two Harrison boys, James Finley Harrison and 
Montgomery Pike Hariison. The former died of dis- 
sipation, the latter graduated in 1847 and was killed bv 
Indians, in 1849, near Colorado river, Texas. 



CHAPTER III. 



That winter and spring of 1842 at Mr. Kinsley's 
school was the most pleasant and useful nine months I 
ever experienced. Kinsley was a graduate of West 
Point in 1819, served in the United States Army till 
1835, when he resigned, having served sixteen years. 



48 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

llis aged mother owned and lived in a comfortable 
home, a mile and a half below West Point, on the hiiih 
banks of the Hudson river, near what was then called 
"Buttermilk Falls" (now called "Highland Falls"). 
lie married a ladv of some means, and after leavino- 
the army took up his residence with his mother, and 
there started a classical and mathematical school espe- 
ciall}' designed to prepare young men to enter West 
Point. In 1841 he completed a much larg-er and bet- 
ter equipped house for the purpose, a few hundred 
yards from the old, and moved into it in the autumn of 
1841. Ilis name was Zebina Jenkin Duncan Kinsley. 
He was on duly at the Academy from 1821 until his 
resignation in 1835, as instructor of tactics, during 
which time the cadets gave him the sobricpiet of " Old 
Zeb." It was remarked by many that I very much re- 
sembled him in features, and as a consequence I also 
got the nickname of •' Zeb," partly because of this sup- 
posed resemblance and also because I had lived at his 
school. His wife, son and two ilaughters constituted 
his family, and all lived in the same house, his children 
taking the same course of study as other pupils, the 
wife doing all she could to look after the comfort and 
Avell-being of the young men and boys comprising the 
school. She was one of the kindest, sweetest, and 
most sympathetic persons 1 ever met, and was to all 
those about her a mother in the many things which 
young- boys far from home so much need. Death has 
lono; since claimed every one of that familv. Mrs. 
Kinsley died of apoplexy soon after I left there in 1846. 

Mr. Kinsley died from the etfects of a fall from his 
horse or buggy, August, 1849. The two daughters, 
Harriet and Louisa, were lost from the great passenger 



KEMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 4{> 

steamer ILnri/ Cldij, when she was burned Jul.y 28^ 
1852, tljree miles below Vonkers on the Hudson river. 
The steamer was racing with the new steamer America, 
and the intense lieat set fire to lloor under the boilers. 
Some buckets of water near by were thrown on the 
rtoor, but had no effect, as the flames immediately 
passed up through the companion stairway to th& 
upper decks. The boat was at once.jnit about for 
shore and ran to the shore under full head of steam ^ 
her bow" almost touching the Hudson River Railway 
tracks. Those who were in the forward part of the- 
boat succeeded in gaining dry land, but the greater 
portion of passengers were in the rear end of the boat^ 
farthest from shore, and the teri'ific flames and smoke 
were blown directly on them, forcing them either to 
burn or jump overboard. Of course, the\' chose the 
latter, but such a mass of panic-stricken men, women 
and children were, to a great extent, iielpless in the 
deep water, and being blinded by smoke and heat, 
actually o-awled over each other till many sank 
together! Over fifty people lost their lives in that 
dreadful catastrophe, among them the two Kinsley 
sisters. Also Professor Baily's wife and daughter, of 
West Point, who had just gone aboard to go to New 
York. It all happened about 4 o'clock ]). m., July 28, 
1852, in broad daylight and must have been a flagrant 
neglect of duty, or a wanton disregard of human life. 
The only remaining one of the family was Edward, the 
oldest child, then about twenty-five years of age. He 
and his two sisters occupied the elegant and spacious 
mansion, where his fatlier had kept his preparatory 
school, and when Harriet left her room that day to 
take the steamer, she had left many articles of her 



50 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

discarded wa/drobe lying ]oosel\' on the bed and 
chairs, only closing and locking her door. Edward 
soon heard of the loss of his sisters and was so crushed 
that he scarce realized anything for weeks. He became 
gloomy and taciturn, sought seclusion from all society 
for some years — he did not even open, enter, or see the 
inside of his sister's room till fifteen years after her 
death. But Edward finally roused himself and entered 
sliofhtlv into societv, married a daughter of ex-Senator 
Hale, and accompanied him as minister to Spain ; but 
he too, the last of the famil\^, died in 1S90, and, as I 
have understood, williout children I 

Early in June, 18Jr2, myself and the two Harrison 
boys and two others closed our relations with Mr. 
Kinsley's school, and walked up to the Military 
Academy one day and reported for examination. We 
were assigned to a room in the Cadet Barracks. All 
passed the examination, and the thirtieth of that 
month marched with the other cadets into camp, to 
beofin the militarv life of a four vears' course — guard 
duly, drill of the soldier' and police work constitutes 
the main duties of the "plebes"' (as the fourth class is 
called while in camp during the months of July and 
August annuall}'). 

On the 31st of August, however, the camp was 
broken up, and all moved into their assigned rooms in 
the barracks, to begin recitations the 1st of Sep- 
tember, under the several professors and instructors 
for the ensuing year. The first year comprised mathe- 
matics, French, artillery and infantry tactics and the 
use of small arms, algebra, geometrv and trigonometry 
and descriptive geometry. The second year comprised 
descriptive geometrv continued, with spherical pro- 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 51 

jections, shades, shadows and perspective analytical 
geometry, surveying and calculus, together with French 
continued, drawing, tactics and cavalry exercises. The 
third year came natural and experimental philosophy, 
chemistry, drawing, tactics, artillery and cavalry and 
practical military engineering and astronomy. The 
fourth and last year, continued militarv and civil eno-i- 
neering, mineralogy and geology, ethics and inter- 
national law, ordnance and gunnery, practical military 
engineering and tactics of artillery, cavalry and 
infantry. This completed the four years course, and 
happy, indeed, were the boys who got their "sheep- 
skins." 

The entire corps of cadets are divided into four 
companies or two battalions (without regard to classes) 
for the purpose of drill and manoeuvre, designated 
Company A, B, C and D. These companies are 
officered from the three oldest classes, the oldest class 
furnishing a cadet captain and three lieutenants to each 
company ; the next oldest class supplying one orderly 
sergeant and three other sergeants to each company, 
and the next (or third) class supplying four corporals 
to each company. The fourth class (called the i^lehes) 
are the candidates who are admitted annually in June, 
and this class remain privates during tlieir first ijear''s 
course^ but at the beginning of their second year they 
become third class and are eligible to the position of 
corporal. This is by selection of the army officer who 
is the commandant of the corps. Of course all can not 
be corporals, as only sixteen (four to each company) 
are required, and the effort and intention is to select 
those who have the best military bearing, the most 
proficient in drill, and the best general conduct. 



52 REMINISrENCES FliOM DIARY. 

Mv pvepiiralion in stiulies at Mr. Kinsley's school 
fjave me an o]>portunity to pay more attention to the 
niilitarv part of the course an«l to the details of drill. 
As a result I was one of the first advanced to the posi- 
tion of cor])oral and drill master tiie beginning of the 
second vear. which I retained: and the following year 
I was advanced to order'y seigeant, and to the grade 
of a commissioned officer the fourth year. The class 
that entered June, 1S42, was a large one, numbering 
11(1, onlv 4S of whom, howevei'. graduated in June, 
IS-t't. 1 was not especially ambitious to excel in my 
studies, because I well knew that it was impossible for 
me to compete with those who had jiassed almost as 
many years in school before going there as I had 
months. All I aspired to was to know my course well. 
and also to be among the first in drill, discipline and 
exercises on the field. This I fully achieved. There 
used to be, and is yet, a -wide discrepancy in the juve- 
nile and boyhood educational acquii-ements of boys 
who go to West Point. Some of them, especially in 
the Eastern States and in the^larger cities, were in for- 
mer years thoroughly prepared by several years school- 
ins while bovs froni the South and West, in most 
cases, as well as the intei-ior[of some Middle States. 
were far behind. 1k\vs o" only mediocre talents who 
start to school at ten or twelve years of age, and con- 
tinue till sixteen or^'eighteen. acquire the faculty of 
study, which boys of [even brighter minds lack, but 
who have not had books and schools. Still, all must 
master the entire course to the satisfaction of the 
Academic Board. 

Early and continued training of the mind at school, 
even though idleness and tiuancy may be mr.rUed fea- 



REMINISLENX'ES FROM DIAKV. 53 

tur-es in the juvenile, lie still acquires knowledge and 
strengthens his memory, so that he more readily a])" 
])ropriates what he reads in his text-l)ook. In this 
early acquisition the Eastern and urban boys excelled 
those from the more I'ural j)arls of the country, and 
particularly those Soulhern and Western boys Who liad 
no schools to go to at home I With determination and 
unflagging application to his books, however, a boy, 
though greatly deficient in early schooling, can forge 
his way onward and u[)wai"d to the I'anks of those more 
favored. Not all of such, nor half of them, however, 
have the heart and energy to make the effort, and 
gradually drop out one by one and return home to pur- 
sue in civil life less exacting mental labor. As 1 have 
stated, of the 110 who entered with m'^ in June, 184-2, 
only forty-'^ight finally grailuated at the end of the 
four years. 

Foi- auld lang syne I will give a list of these, for a 
laro'er number of them ma<le their mark during the 
war among the States (1861 to 1805) than any other 
irraduatino- class, and also served with distinction in 
the Mexican War. 

1. Charles S. Stewart gi-aduated 'head of class. 
He was a son of Chaplain Stewart of the T, S. Navy, 
and was appointed from New Jersey. 

2. Georoe ]3. McClellan from Pennsylvania, a son 
of Surgeon McClellan. 

3. Charles E. lilunt from New Voik City, but 
appointed by the President at large. 

4. John G. Foster from New Hampshire. 

5. Edmund L. F. P. Hardcastle from Maryland. 
C. Francis T. Bryan from North Carolina. 

7. George H. Derbv from Massachusetts. 



54 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

The foreooino- seven were all commissioned in the 
Engineer Corps. 

8. Jesse L. Reno from Pennsylvania. 

9. Clarendon J. L. Wilson from Virginia. 

10. Thomas M. Whedbee from North Carolina. 

11. Edmund Haj/es, Pennsylvania. 

12. Darius N. Couch, New York. 

13. Henry B. Sears, Massachusetts. 

14. William Dutton, New York. 

15. John A. Brown, Maryland. 

16. Thomas J. Jackson, Virginia. 

17. Albert L. Magilton, Pennsylvania. 

18. Truman Seymour, Vermont. 

19. Colville J. Minor, District of Columbia. 

20. Charles C. Gilbert, Ohio (appointed at large). 

21. Marcus D. L. Simpson, New York, 

22. Ituf us J. Bacon, Maine. 

[ 23. Henry A. Eheninger, New York City. 

24. Oliver H. P. Taylor, Ilhode Island. 

25. Samuel D. Sturgis, Pennsylvania (at^large). 

26. George Stoneman, New York. 

27. James Oakes, Pennsylvania. 

28. William D. Smith, Georgia. 

29. George F. Evans, Maine. 

30. Dabney H. Maury, Virginia (at large). 

31. Innis N. Palmer,"New York. 

32. James Stewart, South Carolina. 

33. Parmenas T. Turnley, Tennessee. 

34. David R. Jones,^Georgia. 

35. Alfred Gibbs, New York. 

36. George H. Gordon, Massachusetts. 

37. John D. Wilkins, Pennsylvania. 

38. Joseph|N.[G.^Whistler,(atJarge). 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 55 

39. Tiionias Easley, Virginia. 

40. Nelson II. Davis, Massachusetts. 

41. Thomas H. McConnell, Georgia. 

42. George S. Humphreys, Maryland. 

43. Cadmus M. Wilcox, Tennessee. 

44. William M. Gardner, Georgia. 

45. Edmund Russell, Pennsylvania. 

46. Archibald B. Botts, Virginia. 

47. Samuel B. Maxey, Kentucky. 

48. George E. Pickett, Virginia. 

There were eleven otiiers from previous classes who 
graduated in the class of 1846, making fifty-nine. The 
military and civil service of all will compare very favor- 
ably with a like number of any class that ever grad- 
uated at the Academy. 

I feel at liberty here to relate just one incident of 
my cadet life which, at the time it occurred, was seri- 
ous, but when viewed in retrosjjection is amusing. In 
the spring of 1843, when every cadet was applying 
himself to reviewing his year's course in studies for the 
approaching June examination, I was sitting at my 
table, about eight o'clock at night, deeplv immersed in 
my text-book bv the sickly light of the detested whale- 
oil lamp ; when Cadet A, from Massachusetts, stepped 
into my room and re([uested me to be with him the 
next morning immediately after the reveille roll-call, 
at Kosciuszko's Fountain, under the hill three hundred 
yards from barracks, to act as his second in an encoun- 
ter with another cadet on a point of honor. I was 
intimate with Cadet A, and could not well refuse his 
request. I told him I would be there on time, but did 
not ask him any questions, or the name of his adver- 
sary, nor what weapons he would use, which he knew 



m liEMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

he must supply liimself. I was nearly three years his 
senior and I treated it as a boyish quarrel or joke, so 
he departed to his own room, which he had left with- 
out getting permission. I went on at my lessons for 
half an hour, when in stepped Cadet B, from Vermont, 
with whom I was also intimate as a friend. He had 
no time to sit down, but walked up to my table and 
said : '• Turnley, I called to ask you to be m}' second 
to-morrow morning just after reveille roll-call at Kosci- 
uszko's Garden, and I hope you will act for me." I 
was not a little surprised to be thus called on to offi- 
ciate for two different cadets, at the same time and 
place. I closed my book and applied my drowsy intel- 
lect for a moment to the subject duellol B's looks 
showed that he also felt sur|)rised at my delay in 
giving him answer. I rose from my chair and led him 
back towards the door, out of hearing of my room- 
mate, who was Thomas J. Jackson, and who was also 
•deeply immersed in conic sections at the moment. I 
then made known to B that only a few moments be- 
fore I had a similar request from another cadet, to act 
for him at the same place and hour. This was a poser 
to him, and for an instant he was silent. He then 
asked me who the other party was, and I told him. 
He drop))ed his eye to the floor of the wide hallway 
outside of the room door for a moment, then turning 
to me said, in a low voice : " All right, Turnley, you can 
act for us both ; all we want is fair play, and I know 
3'ou will see that each one gets it.'" It was then my 
time to feel a rather undue responsibility, but I said : 
■"All right I will meet you both at KosciuszVo's just after 
reveille in the morning.'" At the same instant the 
<irums and fifes on the pavement below struck up the 



iieminiscp:ncks froi diary. 57 

Tattoo, so we parted. I did not sleep easy that night, 
for I had thoughtlessly, from kindness to two voung 
heroes, got iny foot into an uncomfortable hole. 
Nothing was surer to result in dismissal from the Acad- 
emy, than for it to get to the knowledge of the arinv' 
officers there on duty that a duel had even l)een pro- 
posed, much less carried out, and all accessories would 
share the same fate with the j)rincipals. 

A was about eighteen years old, of a leading family 
of Boston, a strict member of the Church and a reRular 
communicant, a tine figure, had good address, and was 
scholarly for his age. B was the son of a clergyman 
and also about eighteen years old, quiet and gentle 
in manners, and I puzzled my sleepless head that night, 
wondering what on earth could have occured to pro- 
duce a conflict of last resort between two sons of the 
first families of old, staid New Enoland. Had some 
of our fiery Southern hot-heads been the parties, I 
would not have considered, it stranoe, or out of the 
way. I was a Tennessean and not altogether a stranger 
to hasty settlement of nonsensical disputes between 
hot-heads. However, speculation on my i)art that 
night was useless, so I |)ut in the night as well as 
onecoukl who had at least jeopardized his future success. 
But I then and there made up my mind (as I had been 
chosen bv both parties) that I would have my wav at 
all hazards. As soon as reveille roll-call Avas over 
and ranks broken I hastened off past the little chapel, 
thence northeasterly and down the high bank to the 
little marble basin on a small greensward, called 
Kosciuszko's Garden, or fountain. (Called Fountain, 
I suppose, because seldom, or never, did I see water 
about it.) A was the first one to arrive and I at once 



5S REMIXISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

informed him of B's visit just after his — and his request 
that I act for both. Said I :• '* It is for you. A, to 
object, and then I will withdraw from both sides. " 
"• No " said he ; " I am entirely willing for you to act 
for both of us ." As I have before said, I was nearly 
three years older than either of them, and had seen 
too much of such nonsense and false notions of 
imaginary loyalty to courage to permit me to allow 
my two friends to make fools of themselves and cause 
the dismissal of all three of us from our chosen field of 
work. I therefore sat down on the marble basin and 
asked them to do the same, and then and there give 
me their two small Derringer pistols with the powder 
and balls. I also exacted from each (as I proceeded to 
load the pop-guns) a positive promise that they would 
most implicitly obey me in everything I required of 
them, in word and letter, without delay or hesitation. 
Both promised on honor to do so. Then it was I felt 
relieved and out of the woods (as we say in the wild 
west). So I proceeded to ask A, as he was the first to 
call on me, to state fully what B had done to anger 
him to the point of fight. He related half a dozen 
things, not one of which seemed to me worth a serious 
thought. I then asked the same of B, and it clearly 
appeared that he had in the main only replied to what 
he felt were " flouts " and msuits offeied by A. So I 
heard them both through. " Now " said I ; " fellows, 
do you know that all three of us are on the verge of 
prompt dismissal from West Point, for what we are 
now doing?" No answer came from either. I con- 
tinued : " I have heard each of yom- complaints against 
the other and, sincerely, conscientiously, and on honor, 
fellows, I do think it is a foolish and false exhibition of 



REMINISCENCES FRO.AI DIARY. rii> 

courage to settle vour tlimsvand really nonsensical (lis- 
piites in this way, and thus jeopardize our future. Now, 
you have promised me on your honor to do what I 
require of you in this matter, and your performance of 
that promise is the highest test of courage you could 
possibly have. Therefore, as 1 sincerely like you both 
and equally as friends, I say let me keep these little 
pistols for the present, and you shake hands across my 
lap as consistent members your church requires you 
to do, and forgive each other all that you have felt 
heretofore to be an intended insult." 

A pause of only half a minute ensued, when, true 
to promise, each reached his hand across my lap and 
followed the motion by the words : '' I am sorry 
for what I have said and fully forgive you for what 
you have said and done." A happy ending was this; 
and we all three returned to the barracks and our rooms, 
thence to our usual breakfast and daily recitations. So 
ended the incident, and so continued both parties and 
myself warm friends during their lives, both being now 
deceased. A resigned soon after the close of the Mexi- 
can War and made a business trip to South America, 
returned, and was consulting engineer on sub-marine 
operations for proposed bridges over the Susquehanna 
river by the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore 
Railroad Company, became president of the Nautilus 
Diving-Bell Company, of New York City, and after 
that superintended alterations of the Victoria Docks, 
London, England, till 1860, when he became a mer- 
chant in Liverpool, England, where he died. B con- 
tinued in the army till 1876, when he was placed on 
the retired list. He made a most enviable record for 
gallantry and a skillful commander, both in the Mexi- 



60 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

can War and in our domestic wiw between the States 
in 1861 and 1805. lie became an invalid and went to 
Europe, where he lived and traveled till his death, after 
years of suffering from liright's Disease, complicated 
with many other ailments, all of which he bore with 
amazing' Christian fortitude and courage. 

8o ended the diverse careers of two of my intimate 
associates in earl}"^ life. Both younger than I, yet they 
have preceded me in paying Nature's last inexorable 
debt, while I still linger on the shore, musing, in mental 
retrospection, over long ago incidents of the ups and 
downs of a h^ng life! 

The final and last examination (June, 1810) let all 
of us free to visit our liomes on a two uionths' furlough. 
A nice furlough was allowed to the class in 1841 (the 
end of the first two years), but the long distance to 
travel to my home ( Dandridge, Tennessee), and by 
stage, most of it, besides the great cost of making the 
trip within the two months (July and August), deter- 
mined me not to avail myself of the leave, but to re- 
main in camp and continue at my duties. I was made 
orderly sergeant and could progress in drills, cavalry 
exercises, etc., and have as much recreation as I cared 
for, attending the dancing lessons and weekly hops at 
the dancing acadeni}'. It was a trial forme to come to 
this decision, because I had then been absent from home 
three years, and I well knew my mother \vould anxiously 
expect me. Her deep regret at my first leaving, on 
that 2d of June, 1811, was as vivid in my memory as 
at first — ^even more so — foi' never did a more unselfish 
love exist between a mother and son tlian between us, 
and time had strengthened the tie and embalmed the 
maternal and filial affections all the more indelibly bj'' 



REMINISCENCES VliOM DIARY. 01 

the long- separation. l]ut T was governed by my means 
and the long distance (over 800 miles), made still 
longer by the mode of travel, which would be almost 
over the same road I had walked in June, 1841. I felt, 
therefore, that I could best defer my visit another two 
years and possibly make it the longer and more satis- 
factory to us both. Little did I then realize, however, 
what was to be the sequel. Mother, in her home at 
Mount Pleasant, eight miles from Dandridge, was taken 
sick the last days in July with the prevailing malarial 
fever, and was virtually salivated to death by her ignor- 
rant or careless physician, and died August 10, 1844, 
praying to her last conscious moments for my return ! 
Of course I was ignorant of her sickness until I received 
the letter, about the 25th of August, telling me of her 
death. Then, indeed, did I regret I had not made the 
trip, but regrets availed nothing, and I boi'e my grief 
in silence, bnt found it difficult to muster energy to do 
my daily work, especially to fix my mind on my book. 
However, as nature works relief, so I gradually resumed 
my work till the glad ending of my course of studies, 
30th June, 1846. Meanwhile the Mexican War had 
broken out and everything in the military line was 
excitement and activitv. It became doubtful if our 
class just graduated could get the usual two months 
furlough. The usual custom, however, was not chano'ed 
and all departed for their homes, there to await orders 
from the War Department. 

Passing through New York City and Philadelphia 
I stopped at Baltimore and spent a day with my class- 
mate, Joim Brown, whose mother and sister lived 
there, and he had pressed me to call on them as I 
passed through. Leaving Baltimore the 6th dav of 



63 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

July, I took the route by Lyncliburgh, Virginia, and 
called on Lieutenant Julius P. Garesche, a graduate of 
1841, who was there in charge of the recuiting 
depot. 

Receiving from him information as to the best 
I'oute to my home in Tennessee, which Avas by canal- 
boat to Richmond, thence by stage, I continued my 
journey July 10, engaged a seat in the stage on the 
13th, and had a jolly time on top of the stage for 
man}' days, viewing the beautiful farms in Virginia. 
This stage line consisted of the usual two-horse Troy 
spring coach Avith room inside for six passengers, but 
generally had only four, and made fairly good time, as 
things moved in that day and time. To my surprise 
and discomfort the line came to an end at Jonesboro, 
Tennessee, and only a horseback rider carried the 
mail from there past my home, forty miles distant. I 
could not carry my small trunk on a horse, so 1 was 
forced to hire a wheeled vehicle to take me as far as 
one would agree to go. This I succeeded in doing the 
next day. A man got up a horse and spring wagon 
and took me to Newport, thirty miles, for .$3.00, full 
stage fare, arriving Saturday night. I tarried at old 
Mr. Rhodeman's noted tavern, till Monday morning, 
and put in Sunday morning strolling arround the old 
circus grounds, where in July, 1834. I had taken my 
two older sisters and some other girls to the first real 
circus we had ever seen. About 10 o'clock I went to 
the orrove on the hill where the Rev. Mr. Ross and the 
noted William Ganway Brownlow were advertised to 
discuss some bible questions. Ross was a Presbyterian, 
fairly well educated, of mixed blood it was said, but a 
gentleman. Brownlow was a Methodist and one of the 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 03 

tlogmatic, pugilistic, iconoclastic kind. Mr. Ross was 
sick at home, ten miles distant, and those assembled to 
hear the discussion were disappointed, I among them, 
and Brownlow had it all to himself. 

The next day J hired a horse and went ten miles to 
my father's, and sent a buggy to bring my trunk and 
return the horse. I was thus once more present with 
mv family after five years absence. It took me some 
days to renew my acquaintance with the people and 
the place. The trees about the yard had grown, but 
the hills had all shrunken very much. The French 
Broad river which skirted the farm for over a mile, a 
swift running, limpid stream, 4(>0 yards wide, and 
which in my childhood I had looked upon as a mighty 
big river, now looked to me a very small stream. The 
creek which circled the high hill or promontory on 
which the homestead stood and in which in my 
boyhood days I vied with the scores of geese and tame 
ducks paddling in mud and water, actuall}^ looked in- 
significant and dried up. Fences had been moved, the 
apple, peach and pear orchards had changed amaz- 
ingly ; man}'^ trees had disappeared ; several cherry 
trees were dead, and one of the many large mulberry 
trees, fifteen inches in diameter, where I used to shoot 
the gray squirrels >vhen they came to feed on the 
berries, had been uprooted and gone. Going to the old 
water-mill (saw and grist-mill) which I had tended day 
and night from fourteen to nineteen years of age, in 
winter months, all was changed. The long mill-dam of 
several hundred yards which I had, when ten years of 
age, watched the men building, was in decav. High 
waters had torn off the top logs, and no repairs had 
been made. True, sufficient water still reached the 



64 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

wheels to uive tlieni a laz}', sluggish motion, but still- 
ness seemed to reign wliere my recollection ))icture(l 
noise and activity. In fact all around the 800 acres of 
the premises I saw nothing as I had left it, and only a 
lonely sadness came over nie as I strolled about in sol- 
emn silence. The youngest of the family, a sister, 
whom I left a little slim eight-year-old child, had 
o-rown to almost mv own height. I could hardlv rec- 
ot'-nize her. "Slv onlv brother,whoni 1 had left a merrv. 
active little fellow of thirteen, had grown to be a tall 
man, overtopping myself bv an inch in height, and the 
big " timber-wheels"' or '"log-wagon" with which he 
was then hauling saw-logs to the mill, and the same I 
had used years before, when I thought them the big- 
gest, iiighest and most powerful wheels ever made, 
looked to me now diminutive and cart-Jike. The canoes 
and skiffs about the old mill, although the same size I 
had once used so much, looked to me now as mere toy 
boats. Then, in the house there was a void that only a 
lovino: mother can fill. 

The shoal oi* rapids at the foot of which the mills 
were located was a clear fall of water four feet in six 
hundred yards, and the width of the river four hun- 
dred yards. The water was not deep on the shoal 
only one to four feet, but very swift of current. The 
canoes used at that day were carved out of a solid pop- 
lar tree, generally from twenty-four to twenty-six 
inches in diameter, and scarcely heavier than an Indian 
bark canoe of like size, but much stronger. I began to 
use that canoe at ten years of age, and when fifteen, by 
frequent contests with other boys and men poling up 
stream over rapids, I was readily accorded the palm and 
premium. Nothing claiming to be a "canoe man "" in 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 65 

all the county could excel me, and few even proved 
fair competitors. I could pole my canoe over rapids 
and shoals with a skill and ease that the strongest man 
would fail in doing. Hence it was that the most memora- 
ble sport and ])leasure of my childhood and boyhood 
days were those 1 spent about my father's mill in those 
shoal waters. Xaturally, therefore, on return after 
3'ears of absence, that I should recall those days and 
feel sadness at the changed condition of things I Thus 
I roamed around the mills, the river, the creeks and the 
hills for weeks, almost as lonesome as if I had been 
among strangers, and viewing scenes and surroundings 
for the first time. 

Two persons only had not changed so ver\' much to 
my mind ; one was old Granny '• Hannah," a family 
negress house slave (a heritage from my maternal 
grandmother's estate), antl the other old Mark, also 
slave-in Z«io (but practically as fiee as I). He was 
head man of all work, even the boss over white hired 
men, at farm and mill I He it was who taught me to 
swim and navigate these rapids — while good old Han- 
nah, still the ever faithful, viligant house servant, cook 
and hiundress and maid-of-all-work, who had nursed 
and cared for us white children in infancy — and 
spanl'cd us, too, sco7'ef< of thnes — seemed tiie only substi- 
tute in the old home for my deceased mother ! Then 
it was I realized how much I loved good old '• Granny 
Hannah."' 

I sought I'elief from this loneliness by horseback 
excursions around the settlements, visiting former 
friends and acquaintances, many of them cousins ; but 
here again I met disappointment. Almost at every 
house, some had died, but more had married and gone 



66 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

elsewhere. About the second week I received b\' mail 
orders to proceed to New Orleans and there join my leg- 
iment (Second Infantry), which had been ordered to 
leave Sackett's Harbor (where it had been stationed 
son"!e years) and proceed to Mexico, via Xew Orleans. 

CHAPTER IV. 

This order was actuallv a relief, for I was anxious 
to "et out of the chano^ed scenes about mv old home. 
I spent a few days bidding good-bye to friends, and 
took a two-horse stage hack southwest through Knox- 
ville, Chattanooga, to Nashville, stopping a day and 
night (or one stage) in Bradley county, Tennessee, to 
see my eldest sister, married and living a few miles 
off the road, and whom I had not seen since ISiO. 
After four days and nights staging over the mountains, 
through a lovely country, crossing to the right bank of 
the Tennessee river at Chattanooga, thence on through 
Murfreesboro and crossing Stone river, I reached ISTash- 
ville," where I got a steamboat to New Orleans. That 
was my first trip on the Mississippi river. In New 
Orleans I stopped at the St. Charles Hotel one day 
and a night, and learned my regiment had arrived and 
was then four miles below at the old New Orleans 
barracks, awaiting transportation on the Gulf to Bra- 
zos Island. I lost no time in reporting mvself to Lieut. - 
Col. Bennett Riley, who commanded the regiment in 
the absence of Col. Hugh Brady, who was too old and 
feeble to take the field. Adjutant-Lieut. E. R, S. 
Canbv, and all the officers (twelve or fifteen in num- 
ber) were busy fitting themselves out with mess furni- 
ture and camp conveniences needed ''or iKo field in 



REMINISCENCES FIJOM DIARY. 67 

Mexico. I was not slow to follow their exam{)le. 
Being green and ignorant of the practical, in marching 
and camping on the field, 1 had to learn from tiiose 
older officers, nearly all of whom had served in 
Florida and elsewhere for some years. Finally, the 
steamer M(iK-'«ir/i>is,'tf.s arrived at the wharf to take the 
regiment on board, and twelve hours after we were 
steaming down the Mississippi rivei' to the Gulf, 120 
miles below New Oileans. I never had been actual!}'' 
to sea, and as we passed out over the bar at the mouth 
of the riv^er I was curious to know how it felt to be at 
sea on a ship. I had not long to wait. It took us 
nearly an hour to reach deep blue water, when the roll 
of the vessel began to make nie feel anvthino' but com- 
fortable in the head and slomaeh, and in two hours 
more I was glad to crawl into a berth, where T 
remained during the tioo mile run to Brazos Island. 
Oh, how sick and miserable I was! I then vowed if I 
ever returned from ]\Iexico, it would be by land. The 
i)ar at Brazos Island was very rough when we arrived 
there, and we had to drop anchor for a day outside; 
finally, the breakers subsided sufficiently to make it 
safe to put on steam and pass inside the bai' to the 
wharf. 

Brazos Island is a strip of sand-made land about 
three miles long and half a mile wide, bounded by the 
Gulf on one side and by the Corpus Christi bay on 
the other, and just opposite to Point Isabel. This 
island was utilized by General Taylor for a supply 
depot, being the only place near there that sea-going 
vessels could easily reach and unload. Several large 
storehouses had been er-ected of timber taken from 
Mobile; large water tanks constructed, and roofs con- 



68 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

nected thcrewilli to store the lainfall. for tliere was 
no fresh water to be luul near the island. Major 
Forbes Britton of the United States Army was tiie 
chief commissary in cliarge of that depot, and he was 
on the little improvised wharf, read\' to receive and 
welcome us as soon as a gan<,^-plank was put out. 

Just here I must mention an incident, not at all 
favorable to my own shrewdness and worldh' wisdom. 
I was the subject of many innocent jokes afterwards.' 
When leaving New York I had provided myself with a 
v'erv nice and good silk umbrella, worth about six 
dollars, and which I had kept for use all the way on my 
travels. 1 found it even more useful against the sun's 
hot rays than against rainfall ; besides, it had become a 
companionable walking slick. When 1 step|)ed ashore 
at Brazos Major Britton, Avhom I had never seen before, 
but lieard of, as he was an old officer, a graduate of 1834, 
and with kindliest feelings for younggraduates.to whom 
he was ever ready to give fatherl}' advice, and point out 
what should be the young lieutenant's course just enter- 
ing on the real military life of field campaigning, greeted 
me cordially. Britton was a Huent talker and as suave 
and polite as a French dancing nuister. lie invited meat 
once to walk with hiuMi fcAv hundred yards t<> hisquar- 
tei'S, whicli were in one end of a large storehouse, where 
he had four small looms ))artitioned off, one as kitchen. 
one as dining-room, a smaller one as bedroom with his 
cot and a chair in it. and then a larger one for his office. 
The commissary work was extensive, as may be inferred, 
since through that ilepot passed all the troops and 
provisions for the army in the field as far up as Monte- 
rey, more than two hundred] miles distant, as well as 
for the depots, and stations, at several intermediate 



i 



KEMIXISCKNCES FROM DIATIY. m 

points. This required much clerical work, for which 
halt" a dozen clerks and a dozen hiborers were employed, 
Britton being- the head and chiel" manager of all. 
Good commissai'v whisky was the beverage of that 
day — quite unlike anything we can now get. Its cost 
price was $2.42 per gallon by the barrel in New 
Orleans, was twenty years old, made in Cincinnati and 
Kentucky, and purchased by the Governiiient in 
quantity and stored in Cincinnati, Louisville and New 
Orleans till required for use. Officers were ))ermitted 
to purchase it at cost price. Bi'itton was not a drinking 
man himself, though he took his daily toddy. lie 
was a frank, open-hearted, com])anionable man, anti 
entertained me for' nearly an hoai', going through his 
immense storehouses, where it was comparatively cool 
tor September under a tropical sun on a sand island ; at 
least under the shade it was not warmer than 95 
degrees, lleaching his mess room, he brought out 
fr'om a box in the coi-ner a gallon demijohn of his good 
old whisky, and proceeded to mix a couple of toddies, 
one for each of us. I thanked him and said I did not 
drink anything but w^ater. '-AH right," said he: "here's 
the best water we can get, but you will Hntl it rather 
warm unless you cool it with some of this whisky.'' I 
smiled at the cooling properties of whisky. After 
drinking his toddy, he turned to me in the most serious 
and fatherly manner and said : "Lieutenant, I see vou 
carry an umbrella, and I hope you will excuse me if I 
tell you that nothing will cloud a young officer's pros- 
pects in the army so much as to be seen cai'rving an 
umbrella, and allow me to suggest to you that, before 
other officers shall have met 3^ou with it, you deposit it 
in my storehouse and I will be responsible for its safety, 



70 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

and return it to you when you call for it/' I was just 
ofreen enouo:h and confiditio- enouoh to feel the most 
grateful thanks for his fatherly advice, and thanked 
him, handing my nice umbrella to him to " put awa}'." 
The next dav the troo]is all disembarked and marched 
three miles along the island to near the mouth of the Rio 
Grande, and boarded a river steamer for Camargo, one 
Imndred and tifty miles up river. After I had left Brit- 
ton's store-houses, and was well on my march with my 
company, out of reach of discovering the trick, Britton 
met the adjutant of the regiment, Lieutenant Canby, and 
invited him to step in and take a toddy before leaving, 
during which Britton got out the umbrella and spread it 
for the adjutant's inspection, saying at the same time : 
"Canbv, I have been on this hot, blazing island for two 
months, having to travel about under the scorching 
sun without an umbrella, and have kept a sharp lookout 
for any man or officer who might come fi-om the States 
with one, and only yesterday I discovered Lieutenant 
Turnley of your regiment had this splendid sunshade* 
just what I needed." "Well, how did you come to get 
it r' said Canby. " By Jove I I just told the lieuten- 
ant that to be seen with that umbrella would ruin his 
prospects as a young officer, and I told him I would 
store it away in my office till he should call for it. 
The lieutenant thanked me for mv timely advice and 
handed me the umbrella. ISow, Canby, don't give me 
away, but carry out the spirit of ray advice.'' It was 
after man}' a hot day's march towards Monterey 
before Canby let the joke out, but when the officers all 
got it, I had a jolly time of it. Tlie neatness with 
which Britton acquired a much needed umbrella I 
thought deserved credit, and I was more than recon- 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 71 

cilod to the loss. In fact, it was not a loss, because I 
could not anil would not have used it any way, and 
Britton knew this better tlian I did. But this did not 
relieve or mitigate my stupidity and credulity. I 
could iust as well have had the credit Tor makine- him 
a ])resent, or else taking five dollars for it, which lie 
would glailly have given. 

By sunset we were all aboard the river transj^ort, 
and on our way up the Rio Grande passed Malamoras, 
thirty miles from Brazos, and in two days' run readied 
Camargo, an old Mexican town on the south bank of 
the little San Juan river, three miles from wdiere it 
empties into the Itio Grande and only a few miles from 
the military post called Ringgold barracks. An encamp- 
ment was selected for the regiment, but the company 
I was in (D Second Infantry) and two others were 
immediately detailed to escort a large supply train of 
wagons to Monterey, one hundred and thirty 
miles distant, and I was very soon on the hot, dust}^ 
road with the chaparral, or underbrush, so thick in 
many places that not a breath of fresh air could be 
felt. The road was only twenty feet wide, no rain for 
eight months; two hundred six mule teams, two hun- 
dred pack-mules and a company of cavalry, all passing 
over this narrow, dry ])ath, ground tiie surface into an 
efflorescent powder, almost half a foot tleep. To wade 
through this, behind and between long lines of moving 
wagons, with a vertical, tropical sun beaming down on 
one's head, Avas a test of endurance a little more than 
fresh soldiers from far north Sackett's Harbor could 
stand. The result was more than lialf of each com- 
pany fell by the wayside exhausted and overcome with 
heat and suffocation by dust. We had to put their 



73 HE.MINISCENCES FIIOM DIARY. 

knapsacks into the wagons ; oftentimes the men, also, 
with their muskets. By starting early in the cool of 
the morning and going into camp before the hottest 
part of the day, the men gradually became inured to 
the hardship, and we finally reached Monterey, where 
we found General Taylor encamped at what is called 
the '* Walnut Springs," about three miles from the 
city. The train I went with had two wagons loaded 
with one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in silver 
(half dollars) packed in boxes made for the purpose at 
the mint, each containing one thousand dollars (or two 
thousand half dollars.) Lieutenant Colonel Clay, of 
Kentuck}', also was with us, not on dut}', but an invalid. 
Clav had been thrown from his horse in Camargo some 
weeks previous and broken his collar bone, but desired 
to join his regiment at Monterey. The chief commis- 
sary officer in Mexico was also with this train. Colonel 
Joseph Taylor, a brother of General Zach Taylor. 
"While moving along one day through a dense chaparral 
blinded with dust, one of tlie wagons with specie (which 
were the front wagons) broke down, and of course 
stopped the entire train in the rear, nearly a mile long. 
I was on the rearguard with my compan}^ and we all 
fell down in the shade to wait the starting of the train. 
After an hour had passed I went forward through brush 
and dust to the front to learn the cause of delay. I found 
the broken wagon unloaded of its seventy-five boxes of 
silver, which were piled up in the edge of the brush, mak- 
ing a nice platform, and Colonel Clay had made his bed 
on it. The chief commissary, Taylor, was abusing some 
poor officer (the quartermaster) for not having mater- 
ials, tools and wheelwright along to speed il}'^ repair 
damages. The axle was broken, and, as it appeared, 



REMINISCHNCES FItO.M DIARY. 7i5 

no extra parts had been brouglit with the train, neither 
tools, save a saw and axe, nor could a mechanic be 
found. It was certainly a most slipshod outfit. I 
took in the situation and my early days and years of 
mechanical work at the saw-mill an(] in haulino- saw 
logs thereto came fresh to mind. I never had seen 
Clay or Taylor before that trip, nor had they any 
knowledge of me further than that I was a recent 2'radu- 
ate from West Point, as per the army register, which at 
that day was all too sufficient in the opinion of civil- 
ians and of a few officers of the regular armv who 
weie not graduates to mai'k me down as of no use 
practically. Both Colonel Joe Taylor and his brother, 
the General, were from civil life and did not expect a 
graduate to know much of anything other than Tr^s/ 
Point hools, until they had been some years in the 
army. 

I took in the situation, and saw at once the wagon must 
be abandoned or repaired, ('lose by I noticed a prettv 
straight mesquite sapling. (The mesquite is much like 
our locust tree, resembling it in a])[)earance and in tex- 
ture of wood.) I stepped out to where Clay and Tav- 
lor were resting on the boxes of silver, and said J 
could repair that axle in a short time so as to go on to 
€amp, at least. Taylor asked me m^' name and to 
what regiment and company I belonged, which I 
answered, and Clay asked me if I was just from West 
Point. I said "yes,'' and they both smiled ; but Tay- 
lor said : '• Go ahead, lieutenant, and see if you can 
mend that axle." "Yes," said I; "I will mend it 
Avith a new one." He laughed again. I took off my 
sword-belt and coat, and said to Colonel Taylor : " Col- 
onel, there is a company of Georgians about the mid- 



74 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

die of this train us a central guard, and I feel ver}' sure 
that among those men there can be fonnd one who can 
help me. Will you send back your orderly to get 
any such, a carpenter or blacksmith, to come 
forward and help me i '' *• Certainly," I'eplied the 
colonel. Meanwhile I cut the mesquite sapling- 
other men lifted the wagon box off and got out 
the broken axle. We soon had a tire started and 
burned off the old irons, while I was shaping out the 
new axle. Very soon a tall Georgia volunteer, a regu- 
lar backwoods rongh carpenter when at home, came 
up. He was more recently familiar with use of axe 
than 1 was, and in less than two hours Ave had the old 
irons roughly put on the new axle. It was a rough 
job, but sLi'ong, and went not only to the next camp- 
ino- oround, but all the wav to Monte rev I This was 
told to General Taylor and his adjutant general, Cap- 
tain Bliss, and became quite the talk about camp, 
beino- a feather in mv cap. General Taylor wanted to 
know how on earth a West Point graduate ever 
learned carpentering or to mend wagons at West 
Point. He said he hardly believed I came from West 
Point ; that I musL be a volunteer fresh from the 
workshop and farm. Colonel Clay began to show his 
pride of State b\^ suspecting I was fi'om Kentucky. 
General Taylor, smiling, said he would recommend 
me for promotion, etc. I said nothing but left them, 
to find ouD from the register. I Avas not promoted ! 

About the 20th of November my company was 
ordered to return to Camargo and rejoin the balance 
of the regiment there encamped, under command of 
Lieutenant-Colonel Bennett Riley. My company 
(D 2d Infy.) was commanded by First Lieutenant and 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 75 

Brevet-(Ja{)tain James AV. Anderson^ a graduate of 
1833 (wlio was mortally wouiuled at tlie battle of Ciiurn- 
biisco, Mexico, August 20, 1847). Lieutenant Charles 
p]. Jarvis was on duty with the comnany. 

We left Monterey as escoi't to a hirge train of 
wagons and pack-mules designed to load with supplies 
at the Caraargo depot and transport the same to Mon- 
terey. A Mexican priest at Monterey (whose name 1 
have forgotten) had been secretly engaged in urging 
our soldiers of the Roman religious faith to desert the 
United States Army and join the Mexican government, 
and some of our soldiers iiati desei'ted undei' his inilu- 
ence. General Taylor conchuied to arrest him, and 
send him out of Mexico to New Orleans, and the old 
))riest was placed in charge of a corporal's guard for 
safe keeping (Cor|)oral White and two privates), and 
guard and ])riest were all assigned to one of the six 
mule wiJgons in tlie train, and J.ieutenant Jarvis 
l^laced in special command of the guard and prisoner. 
All went well for about half the trip, but when halting 
half an hour near Seralvo one hot, dusty day, the old 
priest was allowed to procure fi"om the village some mus- 
cal (the beer drink of that country), atul with his muscal 
returned to the wagon, and the train moved on. The 
road was a narrow path, lined on botli sides with thick 
underbrush,thedust so thick one could scarcely see three 
rods distant, and the heat most uncomfotr'ableto anyone 
but a native. The two soldiers as guardsmen m the 
wagon with the priest suffered, as all others did, with 
the heat and dust, and fell asleep, sittingin the moving 
wagon, so that three hours after leaving Seralvo, 
when we halted to go into camp for the night, thc^ two 
soldiers were found fast aslee})and the old priest gone! 



76 REMINISCENCES FllOM DIARY. 

Of course all was excitement, ami })rompt effort made 
to make a search for him, but without avail. In fact 
-it was about as easy to find a needle in a hay-stack as 
to find a fleeing prisoner in such dense chaparral and 
large prickly pears. Of course the two soldiers were 
])ut under arrest, as also Lieutenant Jarvis, and the 
next day we continued our march towaixl Camargo. 
Poor Lieutenant Jarvis was crushed. He had lost his 
prisoner by his two guardsmen sleeping on their post, 
or rather on their seats in the wagon, and the first 
querv was, had they been bribed by the Roman priest 
or had they been drugged by the jiriest's muscal drinks 
Investigation showed the soldiers were not Romanists, 
in religion, and therefore not liable to be bribed on 
religious grounds ; besides, they said they had accepted 
from the old priest several drinks of his muscal beer, 
after drmking which the\^ said they became exceed- 
ingly sleepy, etc., and this, together with the heat and 
dust, caused them to fall into a deep sleep, while the 
slow-moving wagon only favored sleep. After arriv- 
ing at Camargo and laying the matter before Colonel 
Riley and some delay and correspondence with Gen- 
eral Taylor, it was finally attributed to the shrewd 
priest's muscal and to the inadvertency of the soldiers 
drinking it without suspicion. 

Lieutenant Jarvis filed charges against Corporal 
White and the two privates for sleeping on their post, 
and he was released from arrest and returned to duty. 
The men were put in arrest to await their trial by 
court-martial. In a few days my company left 
Camargo for the little town of Monte Marelos, about 
one hundred and twenty miles distant, close under the 
Sierra Madra mountains and on the direct road between 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 77 

Monterey and Tainpico, where we arrived Deceniljer 
12, 1840. I never knew definitely what became of 
Corj^oral White and his two private soldier.s, but I 
heard, us a riu/wr, that one of the privates died at 
Camargo of grief, and that Corporal White had been 
returned to Monterey, where he was serving out his 
sentence with a ball and chain attachment to iiis ankle. 
On arriving at Monte Marelos we took i)ossession of 
the place, taking the Alcalde's court-house for our main 
guard-house, and awaited the arrival of General Taylor 
with his forces from Montere}'. During the few davs 
we thus waited several of our officers got too sick to do 
guard duty and I had to perform the duty cf officer of 
the guard, day and night, for three consecutive'days. The 
headquarters of my guard were at the Alcalde's court- 
house, on the main plaza or public square, and I appro- 
priated his big arm-chair to sit in outside of the court- 
house door in front of which sentinel No. 1 w^alked his 
post. Colonel Riley, the commander, generally visited 
the guard at night to see all was vigilant, and it was his 
visit one night or rather a little before dayltght in the 
morning, that marked an event in my early service as an 
officer of the guard. Colonel Riley was one of the best 
and kindest men in the world, yet viligant, and exact- 
ing of all officers a strict performance of duty. About 
two o'clock in the morning the colonel came quietlv 
walking up to my guard-house in the dai'k. Sentinel 
No. 1 challenged him witli "Who comes there?" to 
which Riley answered, "Commanding officer.'' and the 
sentinel at once sang out, " Turn out the guard for the 
commanding officer;" to which Riley replied, "Never 
mind the guard," and then walked on up to where J 
was sitting in the big arm-chair, leaning back aoainst 



78 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

the adobe wall of the court-house, my aruis folded, and 
my feet on the round of the c\\ii\v,Jast adcej)! Riley 
])ut his hand on ni}' knee and slightly shook it, but I 
showed no sign of movino', and he repeated the shake ; 
still I was insensible to his touch, and he then said, as 
if speakin<^ to himself, " Asleep, yes asleep, fast asleep 
on duty. Must be shot to-morrow mornino-.'" I was 
truly in a strange condition, a strange trance sleep. I 
was in fact dead asleep, which was not to be wondered 
at, for I had then been constantly on guard duty for 
sixty hours without sleep, and yet, strange as it was, 
I heard the sentinel's challenge and Riley's reply, felt 
his hand on my knee, heard him say "asleep, asleep," 
but I could not speak or move until his last words "fast 
asleep on duty.-— Must be shot in the morning." At 
this moment n\\ trance gave way so I could speak, but 
not niove, and I quietly and calmly replied,"' Not much 
am I asleep, Colonel. Won't you have this chair?" 
The colonel was really taken by surprise, and, as he 
afterwards said, he was finally uncertain whether I was 
really asleep or only feigning, because of the quiet and 
composed manner and voice in which I i-eplied to his 
last remark. I marched off guard next morning and 
soon after Colonel Riley seni his orderly to summon me 
to his tent, where I supposed I would be placed in arrest; 
but to my delight 1 was sup[)lied with a delicious old- 
fashioned American toddy made by the colonel him- 
self. He had his Quartermaster McKinstry, his Adju- 
tant Canby, and some other officers present also, and 
took delight in relating to them just how he had caught 
me asleep the night before on guard. (Good old Colonel 
Riley died a painful death at his home in Buffalo in 
1853, of a long and painful cancer which ate away his 
entire left jaw-bone.) 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 79 

In a few days Taylor and his forces from Monterey 
arrived, but the same night word came that Santa Anna 
was approaching Monterey from Saltillo, and the next 
morning the entire force was put in motion back to 
Montere}", eighty miles distant. On arriving there the 
report was found to be wrong, so we again returned to 
Moncemorelos and tlience on, by disagreeable and fati- 
guing marches, all the way to Tampico.about three hun- 
dred and seventy five miles from Monterey. Of course 
we marched through luan}' towns,villages and ranches on 
that long and fatiguing ti'ip along the foot of the Sierra 
Madre mountains. After leavingMontemorelos we came 
to the town of Linares, thirty miles; then twenty-live 
miles to a ranch, then thirty miles to Villagran, then 
twenty-five miles to a camp, then Victoria forty miles, 
where we called a halt for some days. It was while 
we were encamped at Victoria that orders from Gen- 
eral Scott reached Taylor, directing him to return 
to Monterev and take command of that part of 
Mexico, but letting the principal portion of his troops 
proceed on to Tampico. 

While at Victoria also, we received news that Lieu- 
tenant John A. Ilichey, bearer of dis])atches to Taylor, 
with a small escoit of four dragoon soldiers, fi'om Mon- 
terey, had been murdered at Villagran, January 13, 
.1847. Taylor immediately started back, taking with 
him Colonel Mav's dragoons, Braoo'gj^nd Wasliinfiton's 
batteries. The little village (Villagran) where Lieu- 
tenant Richey was murdered, was only about forty 
miles from Victoria, and the rear guard of our forces 
had passed through it only a day or two before the 
murder. Taylor on his return to Monterey passed 
through the village, and I understood he stopped long 



80 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

enoiijrh to investi<^ate the matter and learn that the 
vilh\ge priest was the chief "actor in the murder, but 
he had i\ei\ to the mountains. Taylor threatened the 
villagers and Alcalde with punishment unless thev 
apprehended and delivered U|) the murderers: but I 
never leariied that anything was done, and Taylor had 
no time to spare from his march back to Monterev, 
thence on to Saltilio. It was now about the 15th of 
January, 18i7. The manner in which Lieutenant 
Riche}' was murdered was cruel and revolting. When 
General Scott arrived al Brazos Island (the mouth of 
the Ttio Grande) he tarried a short time to formulate 
orders, for he i-anked General Taylor. His i)lan was, 
for Taylor to remain in command on the Monterey line 
of operations, to watch and check an}-^ move of the 
Mexicans in that part of the frontier, while Scott him- 
self was to organize as large a force as he could and 
move by sea to Vera Cruz. Hence he sent full instruc- 
tions to Taylor at Montere}^ (as Scott supposed Taylor 
to be there), but after his couriers were gone Scott 
learned Taylor had already gone south towards Tam- 
pico, and therefore he at once started other couriers- 
with a duplicate of his orders southwesterly direct to 
Taylor, and which Taylor received in about six days at 
Victoria, whereas the first dispatches had to go first to 
Monterey, say 25(> miles from Brazos. There, the 
next in command at Monterey (General AVilliam 
Worth) opened and learned the importance of the 
orders and immediately dispatched Lieutenant 
Richey with a few dragoons to overtake Taylor 
if possible. Taylor meantime was in camp at 
Victoria, more than two hundred miles from Monterey. 
Richev had this long distance to ride with only a few 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 81 

horsemen as escort. At Yillagi'iin, onl}' forty miles 
slioit of Taylor s camp, as stated, the lieutenant rode 
up to the Alcalde's house and asked to purchase a little 
corn to feed his jaded and hungry horses, at the same 
time directing- his coi'poral and men to ride across the 
little creek, to clear s})ace to camp for the night. This 
was a fatal error in poorRichey's judgment. He was a 
brave, active and vioilant voung; officer, a graduate of 
only eighteen months before, and he being so close to 
Taylor's encampment at Victoria, it was not strange he 
failed to realized his danger. He was told he could 
get some corn, and was about to turn his horse's head 
to his intended bivouac for the night, when at some 
obvious signal a lariat was thrown over his head and 
he was dragged off his horse on the ))laza (a small 
public square) and brutally murdered. His dispatches 
of course, were taken and a courier at once dispatched 
with the same to the nearest Mexican general, then 
somewhere south of Saltillo. These dispatches and 
orders of Scott from Brazos Island outlined the con- 
templated movements on Yera Cruz, and also gave 
Taylor general instructions for his woi'k on the 
Monterey line, and when delivered to the Mex- 
ican general and carefully translated into the 
Spanish language, of coui'se gave to the Mexican 
otiicers Scott's entire plan of campaignl Knowing 
all this Taylor hastened his return to ^Monterey, and 
thence on to Saltillo, drawing meantime all the volun- 
teers available from the lower Rio Grande to move for- 
ward and join him. By this means Taylor was enabled 
to collect a paltry four thousand men to meet Santa 
Anna at Buena Vista (or more correctly at Angos- 
tura), where, with four thousand men, he fought tlie 



83 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

memorable battle called Buena Vista, and beat Santa 
Anna, who had in round numbers twenty thousand 
men! 

But I have digressed from my narrative, mainlv to 
refer to Lieutenant Richey's cruel murder, whom I 
liked very much and with whom I was three years a 
cadet at the United States Military Academy. 

Returning- to my subject, our forces at Victoria 
resumed the march to Tampico, January 15, 1S47 (Gen- 
erals Patterson and Twi<,^<js in command), and after 
manv hard marches we reached Tampico, one hundred 
and fifty miles from Victoria, January 2od, and formed 
encampment on the high bluff overlooking the Panuco 
river and about four miles from the city of Tampico. 
Our first work was to clear off the thick underbrush 
composed almost entirely of the lime bush, so thick one 
could scarcely crawl through it. This lime growth is a 
slim, straight growth, generally not thicker than one's 
Avrist, but twelve to twenty feet high, and bears the lime 
apple, almost identical in taste with tiie lemon, but much 
smaller. It required several hundred men witii axes 
several days to clear a space sufficiently lai'ge for our 
encampment, which I and others, considered at the 
time A most unnecessary labor, considering we were 
only waiting there for transports to take us five hun- 
drad miles on to Vera Cruz. 

General Scott, meantime, had sailed from Brazos 
to Lobos island, about eighty miles south from Tam- 
pico, and there anchored his flagship, to await our ar- 
rival, and, in fact, to have a general rendezvous at 
that island of his forces destined for Vera Cruz. 

The dav we began to embark the news reached us 
of Taylor's battle at Buena Vista, February 22, 1S47. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 83 

After dropping anchor at Lobos island for a few days, 
the entire flotilla proceeded on to Sacrificious anchor- 
age, which was in sight of Yei-a Cruz, but about 
twelve miles south of it. Troops and supplies were 
daily arriving, and Scott was hard at work formulating 
his plans for landing. For this purpose he had, before 
leaving Washington, ordered some sixtv or more surf- 
boats, and these were coming along slowly, but it re- 
quired some days of waiting before enough of them 
had arrived to enable us to land. Finallv, on the 9th 
of March all things were ready, and the larger vessels, 
with ti'oops on board, got under way, and ran u|) 
within two miles of the shore, but out of reach of the 
guns of the city or forts. The surf-boats were towed 
along behind the larger vessels till the latter dropped 
anchors. Then these pulled up alongside, and the 
officers and men at once passed fi-om the vessels into 
these surf-boats, each one of which already had six 
trusty seamen from the naval ships, detailed to row 
them ashore. At a signal from General Scott's flag- 
ship, all the surf-boats ])ulled out in line, headed for 
the shore, about forty in number, and carrying the 
first division of troops, about 3.00<» all told. It re- 
quired only half an hour for these boats to reach near 
enough the shore to drop their kedges and allow everv 
man (officeis and soldiers) to step oveiboaid into the 
water and wadeashore, which they did, and i-ushed to 
dry land as fast as possible. The surf-boats then re- 
turned to the transports and took the second division, 
and after that took the tiiird and last division. I was 
in the last division, and we got on shore about 10 
o'clock at night, and had the pleasure of lying on the 
sand beach in wet clothes. 



84 KEMINISCENX'ES FROM DIARY. 

By sunrise March 10, 1S47, our little army of 
eleveu thousand men were safely landed, and rapidly 
extending a line of investment around the city. Not an 
accident occurred, not a single life was lost in this phe- 
nomenal debarkation of troops on a hostile shore. By 
the 12Lh of March we had coin))leted the line of invest- 
„ient — surrounding tiie city of;,\''era Cruz, cutting off 
all egress and ingress. This was not easily accom- 
plished. Much laboi-. fatigue"andjiatience was retjuired 
to pick our path in the sand-i'i<lges along a semi-circle 
around the city for a distance of six miles, fnuii the 
point we landed to the waters of the sea nortli of the 
citv. Of course we needed horses, mules and wagons, 
but had very few — only about a ^,dozen carts had yet 
been landed from our transports, and less than fifty 
hoi'ses; and we had to carry our luggage, camp e(pji- 
]>age and provisions as best we^ould. Those sandiiiils, 
interspersed with chapari-al, and, every bush and twig 
havint'- a thorn on it, made our march serious work. 
Nothing daunted, however, our soldiers, regulars and 
volunteers alike, carried and dragged our entire outfit 
of ))rovisions and munitions with us, under a hot, burn- 
in"' sun. The 14th of March, what is called a 
"Norther"' came uj), whicii is a cold, strong, constant 
wind from the north, making man and^beast to shiver 
— disagreeable anywhere, but mostly to be dreaded 
where the sand is all over ami around us, and flying 
in every direction, filling eyes and mouth, nose and 
ears. This continued until ai)(nit the 17th. when the 
wind began to slacken, and tlie naval vessels and sea- 
men were able to begin to land our mortars and siege 
pieces and also mules and horses. ^By the ISih we got 
ten mortars and four twenty -foui'-pound siege guns on 



PvE.MINISCENCES FPxOM DIAliY. 85 

shore, also two or three howitzers. Tliat night the 
trenches to receiv^e these guns and nioi-tais were com- 
})lete(l. Uy tiie 22(1 most of the mortars and two 
siege guns were in position ready to oj)en fire on the 
<loomed citv. But before doiniiso General Scottsent a 
messenger to the city with a demand to the Mexican 
commander to surrender without loss of life. The Mexi- 
can general, or the governor of the city, or both, re- 
fused to sui-render : antl on the receipt of this refusal, 
General Scott oi'dered our batteries to l)egin tii-e. The 
batteries had^been planted about l.OOU yards from the 
])ub!ic S(|uar-e in the city. The firing was kept up all 
that (hiy and night and part of tlie 23d. On the 2-tth 
we had plantetl additional guns, twenty-four pounders 
and one or two Paixlian* guns. On the 25th all of our 
batteries o))ened fire at once. This created one of the 
grandest scenes in warfare. The darkness of the night 
was madeTluminous by the blazing siiells, which cir- 
cled through the air in a constant stream. The inces- 
sant roar of heavy artillery, and the fall of hei»vy shot 
and shell on houses, churches and palaces in the city, 
mingled witii the pitiful cries and yells of the people, 
was sadly and painfully grand, all the more so be- 
cause it was the wail of innocent mothers and chil- 
<lren. Great churches and cathedrals were perforated 
with our shot and^shell, and reverberated, with fearful 
echo; while [the entire water front of tiie city was 
made red by the broadside discharges of our naval 
men-of war. The castle of San Juan, a mile out from 
shore, with its hundred well-manned cannon, opened fire 
on our naval^Jships, which greatly added to the general 

* A Paixhan gun is a large cannon like the Columbiad, made to throw 
both shot and shell. 



86 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

din and roar of that fearful bonil)ardnient, but did no 
harm to our ships. 

No more sublime and awfully terrible scene in war- 
fare has ever been enacted than that, witnessed from 
our trenches of investment, from about the 22d to the 
25th of March, ISiT I The accumulated science of 
ages, as applied by military art, was then and there 
aggregate^], and put into fearful practice on the sandy 
shore of Vera Cruz, with the maximum destructive 
power I 

Late on the evening of the 2oth, the consuls of 
European nations, located in Vera Cruz, made applica- 
tion, by flag of truce, to General Ssott, for them and 
the women and children to be allowed to retire from the 
city. But Scott replied that such could only be granted 
by application of the chief in command (Genei'al Mare- 
los), the governor, and that, too with a view of surren- 
dering the city. General Scott had, several davs before, 
sent safe-guards to all consuls, and they I'efused. to avail 
themselves of the same — even the blockade had been 
left open to consuls and to all neutrals, up to the 22d of 
March. Scott had fully considered all these hardships, 
as well for women and cuildren as for the consuls ; but 
they had coolly declined to accept his humane offer, 
and it was rather late now to cry halt. Therefore. 
General Scott very properly declined to cease his tiring. 
The result was, that on the morning of the 20th the 
Mexican general, in the citv, sent a iiag of truce, ])ro- 
])osing to surrender the city without further bloodshed. 
Scott had just completed his plan to storm the city and 
take it by assault and the Mexican general's proposition 
rendered this extreme measure unnecessary. Generals 
Worth and Pillow, and Colonel Totten (of our engineer 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIAUY. 87 

corps), were named by General Scott as commissioners 
to meet the Mexican commissioners and arran<^e the 
terms of surrender. Late on tiie night of March 27tl), 
articles of surrender were signed and ratified. So ended 
the siege and capture of Vera (Jruz in March, 1847. Dur- 
ing the fifteen days of investment (say from March 
12tli to 27tij), we threw three tliousand ten-incli shells, 
two hundred howitzer shells, one thousand Paixhan 
shot and two thousand live hundred round shot, the 
total weight of shot and shell thrown into that city was 
about half a million pounds, or two hundred and fifty 
tons. 

The siege and capture oi' Vera Cruz by Scott was 
phenomenal, and was received by the military naticms 
of the world as a mrd'velous application of military 
science, tactics and discipline. Jt gave to the United 
States a prestige for war not before dreamed of. Our 
loss of life was two valual)le officers, two seamen, three 
soldiers and one musician. The loss of the Mexicans 
I liave never been able to learn with any degree of cer- 
tainty ; but it was up into the hundreds. 

The great warlike nations of the Old World think 
victory brightest when achieved in a carnival of death, 
and that laurels are greenest when plucked from a 
crimson tree. But this is not the estimate of the more 
civilized, humane and intelligent people. We Amer- 
icans of this nineteenth century believe the achieve- 
ment greatest which has cost the least loss of life, and 
where skill is substituted for brute force and strength — 
where science takes the i)lace of brave but wasted 
energy. 

On the 29th of March the entire city, with all mil- 
itary supplies and munitions, was delivered to our 



88 11EMINISCE\C;ES FllOM DIAPvV. 

forces; and my regiment (the First Infantry) was 
designated to occupy the same, while the rest of the 
army moved on toward the city of Mexico. 

I have gone more into detail in the capture of the 
city of Vera Cruz tlian properly belonged to a per- 
sonal narrative, but the event is altogether worthy of 
more than T have said, or can say, in praise of the mil- 
itary strategy and execution of that daring enterprise. 
General Scott, however, was, par excellence, the com- 
mander most capable of planning and executing such 
a military movement. It would require an abler pen 
than mine to do justice to tiie subject. Nevertheless, 
I am tempted to add a few lines descriptive of the lo- 
cality, the obstacles to be encountered, the grandeur 
and completeness of execution. As before stated, 
General Scott had stopped a few days at Brazos island 
(mouth of the Rio Grande) to give orders to General 
Taylor, then supposed to be at or near Monterey, after 
which Scott proceeded by steamer to Lobos island, 
where a fairly safe anchorage could be had, about 
eighty miles south of Tampico and about 320 miles 
northwest of Yera Cruz. At this place the troops 
designated for the expedition assembled on vessels, 
and when nearly all had arrived anchors were raised 
and vessels proceeded to a ]>lace called Antonio 
Lizardo, in sight of, but ten or twelve miles beyond, or 
south of, the citv of Vera Cruz. General Scott, on 
March Tth, made a reconnoissance of the city and sur- 
roundings on a steamer, accompanied by Commodore 
Cannor, for the special purpose of selecting the best 
place to land his troops, and he \vas not long in select- 
ing the west shore of the little island of Sacrificious, 
in sight of, but some three miles from Yera Cruz. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 89 

That anchorage, liowover, was not large enough for all 
our vessels (numbering then over fifty), including men- 
of-war of the navy and transports. On the morning 
of March 9th the troo])s were mostly removed from 
the transports which had brought them there to the 
two or three ships of war, the magnificent frigate 
St. Mary being the one my regiment went aboard of. 
Tn the afternoon the entire fleet set sail for the place of 
landing, say six miles distant (and three miles south of 
the city). General Scott, on the old steamer Massachu- 
setts, leading off. As he passed through the immense 
squadron, all with anchors raised and ready to follow, 
his tall form (over six feet) standing on deck, was 
seen by every one, and a loud cheer was given by the 
nearest vessel, which in turn was repeated by every 
vessel in the scpiadron. Twosteamers and four or five 
gunboats had taken position to cover and protect tlie 
landing of the soldiers should resistance be made bv 
unseen Mexican soldiers on the land. Every one ex- 
pected, of course, to meet the enemy on shore, and 
preparations were made for this contingency. About 
3,000 men and officers embarked in the first division, 
in fortv of the large surf-boats. A signal sfun was 
iired from General Scott's vessel to start for shore. 
The entire flotilla of surf-boats moved in line 
abreast towartl the shoi-e as fast as the seamen 
could pull. Arriving within a few hundred yards of 
land, where the water was less than three feet deep, all 
the soldiers jumped out. holding up cartridge boxes 
with one hand and carrying musket in the other, and 
rushed for dry land with all speed ; not stopping, they 
continued on over the sand hills into the underbrush, 
and raised our flag. This was seen by the troops still 



9.) REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

on the ships, and a tremendous shout went up from 
every throat. This tirst division reached shore about 
sunset, and in less than one liour the second division of 
3,500 was landed, and by 10 o'clock that nigiit tiie 
third and last division was safely on shore, I was in 
this third division, as before stated, and had a sound 
sleep in wet clothes on the sandy beach not 200 feet 
from the water. Thus it was in less than eight hours' 
time our entire army of 11,000 men and officers 
were hinded, on a hostile shore, from seagoing vessels, 
without a single loss of life or accident. We were 
thus in sight of the spot where Cortez landed his small 
force of Spanish soldiers 330 years before, to sub- 
due the Aztec American civilization, and we had now 
landed to subdue the Spanish Aztecs. Botii came 
with inferior numbers, as if to illustrate the higher or- 
der and superior energy and moral power of the age. 
Both were urged on by that invisible spirit in man to 
carry forward the great drama of earthly strife — the 
assumed providence of a Divine Ruler to a higher civ- 
ilization. What vanity to speculate as to results'. 
Men may continue to speculate, but no data reliable is 
at hand to warrant a prophecy or a prediction. Man 
is the highest specimen of animal creation, yet brutal,, 
barbarous, vindictive and revengeful I — lower in these 
respects than brutes and reptiles, which require no re- 
straining government, while boasted man must be 
governed and restrained^ or else become extinct on 
earth by violence to each other! In nineteen hundred 
years, under the teaching and inspiration of the high- 
est and most elevating religion we have any record of, 
man has not yet softened or ameliorated, much less 
subdued, his barbarous nature; nor are men, as a wholes 



liEMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 91 

or in mass, capable of liberty or worthy even to ey^er- 
c'\se privileges. However, I am not going to moralize, 
but rather express the fact that skill and science were 
most completely combined and put into practice by 
General Scott's brain in all his pre-arrangements and 
combinations, which resulted in landing 11,000 troops- 
from seagoing transports at Vera Cruz without a 
single loss of life, or accident I History fails to record 
any similar feat. The French at Algiers in 1830 
landed 9,000 soldiers in one entire day, with no resist- 
ance on the part of the enem}', either by land or water, 
yet thirty-six men were drowned by upsetting of boats^ 
whereas Scott landed 11,000 in less than ten hours 
with no loss. 

Gen. Winfield Scott was no politician, albeit he 
was ambitious for ])olitical honors, and failed; but the 
United States never produced his superior, nor his 
equal,as a military general. The care and foresight with 
which he planned iiis battles, his exceptionally good 
judgment, and the ever mindful vigilance with wiiieh 
he saved, when possible, the lives of his soldiers and 
officers, placed Scott abov(; all military captains of the 
ninetef^nth century. This is not undue praise (extrava- 
gant as it may seem since our great tlomestic wai', and 
the undue worship of half a dozen pigmy generals) but 
simple truth — a truth which as a military student and 
officer for nearly thirty years, I feel it my simple duty 
to record for whomsoever it may concern. Gen. Scott 
at that time was sixty-one years of age. 

Our domestic war between the states (1861 to 1865) 
was on the most colossal scale of any war of record, 
and was waged with energy and great sacrifice of lif«^ 
and waste of material, but not often, if indeed ever^ 



D2 PvE.MINISCEXCES FROM DIARY. 

with skill or generalship on either side! Tliere was 
ten times more personal ambition, selfish politics, and 
grasping avarice in the bloody drama than of science 
or skill. We may, even at a quarter of a century after 
its close, mark the sowing of seeds of decay of our 
boasted republic. There is no longer even a semblance 
of that high moral integrity and honesty of purpose in 
the administration of laws, either municipal, state or 
national, that characterized public affairs in the begin- 
ning of our popular government. Could the ])ublic 
men of one century past suddenly appear to-day in our 
courts and halls of legislation, and get even a partial 
glimpse of the dishonesty, corruption, btiberv and bar- 
gain and side of officials high and low, thev would won- 
der they ever felt confidence in a popular elective 
ofovernment. 

What the ultimate result of our rapid experiments 
may be, cannot be forecast, nor exactlv when tie 
finale shall come. But judging bv what has been since 
man began on this earth, (and which one is warranted 
in supposing may have ante-dated some millions of 
years the time of the alleged Moses), one is not out of 
the way in predicting that by the year 1990, vox 
populi will have quite sufficiently proved itself a 
debauching and destroying lie, anil i-efuge will be 
soufjlit in the same old kinoiv svstein, with even 
greater than the present power of a llussian Czar. By 
that ])eriod our country will have, about four hundred 
and Hfty millions of human beings, all striving, like 
bees and worms, to clamber over its neighbor, with 
no thought but for self, and to save them from self- 
destruction, therich, wise and powerful few, must come 
to the rescue and wield arbitrary, even unlimited power. 



KEHINISCENCES FHO.AI DIARY. 93 

We lire })iously cited to the biblical assertion that there 
is " nothing new under the sun ;" hence our present 
experiment at popidar government iiiis doubtless been 
enacted scores of times in the distant, past, and by the 
revolution of the Wheel of Time all nations and j)eople 
return to their foi-mer place and condition, there to 
begin anew the ordeal of building up what we call 
higher civilization, which, when reached, another retro- 
gi'ade sets in. 

The disorder of the twentieth century will contra- 
dict the absurd dogma that '"all men are free and 
ecjual."' Liberty, equality and fraternity are imaginary 
impossibilities in this world ; equality is attained or 
even supposable, only in the grave, while the mucii 
vaunted liberty is an absurdity; and fraternity is the 
very shadow of fiction. The so called statesmen and the 
professional politicians in the United States are at lib- 
erty to smile at this prediction, as did many scoff attiie 
idea of our late war. Even Lincoln, while he through 
policy flattered the multitude, yet at heart l)elieved the 
truth of what I sa}'. 

One amusing incident occurred on the mornin<'- of 
March 18tli, which I must mention, because it will 
indicate, to the uninitiated, tiie extreme venture wjjich 
those in a besieged city must sometimes hazard. 
Santa Anna, witli 20,000 men, was at that time not 
more than 100 miles from Vera Cruz on the road lead- 
ing to the City of Mexico, lie had been defeated at 
Buena Vista only a month before, but had hastened to 
the capital, organized a new army, and was pushing to 
relieve \'era Cruz Tiie one great need was to inform 
liim of the beleaguereil condition of Vera Cruz, and 
urge him to come to its relief as soon as possible with a 



94 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

force sufficient to raise the siege— as we sa}' in military 
parlance. This scheme was cunningly tlevised by Gen. 
Marelos and almost succeeded. Its failure was mainly 
due to the humble writer of these lines as follows : 

On the night of March 12th, I was detailed for 
picket guard on the circular line of investment. The 
line I was to guard was about half a mile long and the 
orders given me were to let no person go in toward 
the ciLv or come out. This I strictly obeyed. But on 
tiie morning of the 13th when the sun was about two 
hours risen, and much smoke from numerous camp 
fires clouded the atmosphere, while I was drinking a 
little coffee from my tin cup, I descried in the distance 
(toward the city) a man coming toward me with a 
piece of wood on his shoulder. He was dressed in the 
o-arb of the " peons," (slaves or laborers) of the coun- 
try, and walked like a serf or peon, so much so that 
one would hardly think of his being anything but a 
poor wood-chopper going to his work, for he also had 
an ax on his shoulder. Besides, he came directly 
toward me, apparent!}' without the least fear or hesi- 
tation, which further intlicated that he was a menial in 
some family in the city who was in need of a little 
wood fuel. He came to where I was standing, near 
mv all-night camp tire, saluted me (a la peon) by raising 
his sombi'ero (hat) with the usual *' P>uenos dias Senor" 
(Good morning, misler), and then in Spanish said, " I 
wish to go out a little way and cut some wood, and 
mv cart being broken I wish to mend it and haul in 
mv wood." I eyed him for a moment and called my 
sergeant of the guard, who was only a hundred feet 
distant; he came up and I said : ''Sergeant, this man 
wants to go out over the line to cut some wood and 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 95 

Tnend liis cart, but I would like to know what that 
stick of timber is he has with him ; take it and examine 
it." The stick was about three feet long and 3x3 inches 
in diameter. The sergeant took it to tiie camp-fire 
and washed it clean, when, behold I an inch-auger hole 
bored into one end to the depth of eight inches and a 
roll of thin paper, all written over, was concealed, and 
mud and dirt covered the hole. The writing was in 
Spanish. T sent the man and piece of wood and writing 
to General Scott's headquarters tent at once, where it 
was discovered the paper was from Marelos in Vera 
Cruz, to Santa Anna to hurry up with his forces and 
relieve the city. And the man carrying the stick was 
a captain of artillery, not a peon or wood chopper by 
any means. I never learned what General Scott did 
with the man. I guess he let him go. 

CHAPTER V. 



During the siege of Vera Cruz I was on picket 
guard on the line of investment for twenty daj's and 
nights, without being relieved, and from the !>th to the 
29th of Marcii had not been able to change my clothes. 
During this time we had a cold wet '• norther'' for fortv- 
pight hours, and I was in the sand-hills day and night 
with not so mucli as an overcoat. I took a severe cold, 
which by the 29th became serious rtm\ I had to go to the 
rear a half mile, and make mv bed on my blanket 
under the chaparral or underbrush on the road-side. 
The next day a clear case of mumps appeared, and two 
days later a severe case of measles. Altogether, I was 
in a pretty bad condition, but as my company and reg- 
iment had to occupy the city, my captain, Albert S. 



96 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY 

Millet', a native of East Tennessee near Knoxville, and a 
graduate of the Military Academy of 1823, had me 
taken into the cit\^ and comfortably careil for. The 
" northers" having ceased with the coining in of April, 
we soon had very warm weather. I became greatly 
reduced in strength, in fact I could not walkabout, but 
kept my bed for ten days, with little prospect of speedy 
recovery. The army had gone on to Cerro Gordo (,sixt\'-^ 
five miles),and was there preparing to hnve another bat- 
tle. About the 10th of April a class-mate of mine, Fred 
Myersof the Fifth Infantrv, was sent back from the army 
to Vera Cruz, perfectl}^ helpless with inliammatonv 
rheumatism, about the worst case of the kind I had 
ever seen. Our surgeon recommended that Myers be 
sent on a steamer, which was to sail in a few days to 
iNew Orleans. 

My captain, seeing my weak and feeble condition, 
suggested to the colonel that I go with Myers to New 
^)rleans and thence to Cincinnati to bring back five 
hundred recruits for the regiment and the general serv- 
ice. Of course, nothing could have pleased me more, 
and in a few days Myers and I were steaming toward 
New Orleans, distant from Vera Cruz about nine hun- 
dred miles. We iuid a slow, disagreeable sea vo\'age. 
and when we reached New Orleans Myers was still 
unable to walk, oi" even get out of his bunk. I there- 
fore staid with him two days, till a vessel was ready to 
leave for New York, and put him on board, lie reached 
home (New Haven. Conn.) early in May and there 
received news of the battle of Cerre Gordo. Mj'ers 
finally recovered his health. I took steamer for Cin- 
cinnati and was orderetl on to Pittsburgh, to gather all 
lecruits I could, and report the same to the chief 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 9T 

recruiting officer in Newport, Kentucky (Major N. 
Macray). It was September before all the recruits 
were concentrated at Cincinnati, and about the 20th of 
September I left Cincinnati on steamer for New 
Orleans with 800 recruits, arriving there about the 1st 
of October ; we soon boarded a sea-going vessel called 
The Fanny, and left for Vera Cruz. After six clays 
out, the captain of the steamer told me the boilers were 
so crusted with salt that he must shut off steam and 
clean boilers, and he requested me to give him an order 
to run into Tampico to do this, rather than do the work 
at sea, with the vessel rolling and pitching, as The 
Fanny did all the time. He wanted an order from some 
officer, because of the terms of his insurance. I thought 
the matter over and concluded to give the order. Three 
days after we crossed the bar, and steamed five miles 
up the Panuco river to Tampico, where we lay twenty- 
four hours and cleaned boilers, then left for Vera 
Cruz. I was glad we had run into Tampico, for, while 
we lay there, the most terrific storm for years had 
swept that entire coast and that portion of the gulf 
and many vessels had been lost. Two transports with 
army supplies and horses on board were lost, and 
the thiid day out from Tampico we passed one large 
schooner, keel up, still floating, but her cargo scattered 
over the sea along our track, and all her crew lost ! 
After three days run we entered the harbor at Vera 
Cruz and dropped anchor not far from the noted castle 
of " San Juan de Ulloa," about a mile from the " Mole," 
which is, in fact, the pier on which freight and passen- 
gers are landed in small boats, as deep draught vessels 
cannot get to the pier. It was sunset when I landed 
and proceeded to report to the commanding officer of 



08 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

the city, who in fact was Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson of 
my own regimer.t. First Lieutenant Benjamin W. 
Arthur, a New Yorker, was his adjutant-general. I 
was vlirected to call on the post quartermaster for suf- 
ficient transportation for my 800 recruits to a camping- 
ground a mile south of the city w^alls, and there form 
a camp. This was late in October. The yellow fever 
had prevailed in Vera Cruz all summer and created 
dreadful mortality among the troops and Americans 
stationed there. My own company, which T left in 
April 100 strong, had lost more than a thinl of its num- 
ber but the disease had spent its force and no new 
cases had occurred for some weeks, and it was hai'dly 
supposable any more would occur, as cold weather had 
set in. I got the necessary wagons to haul the camp 
equipage, and got my eight hundred recruits safely 
landed on the pier about ten o'clock at night, and by 
eleven o'clock reached the place for a camp. The men 
preferred to throw themselves down on their blankets 
on the sand, rather than sj^end the night in darkness 
pitching tents, I preferred, myself, to get* some sleep 
•on tlie sand. Consequently, after putting out a line of 
sentinels, we all fell asleep. We had only a dozen guns 
for guard service and early next morning I went back 
to the citv with a corporal, live men and a wagon to 
draw arms and munition for niy 800 reciuits, leaving 
orders for the tents to be pitched and a proper camp 
to be formed. I got the arms and returned to camp by 
noon. At once called up the men and issued to each a 
complete outfit for service. Before I was through 
with it, I felt as if I had a chill, and that night in my 
tent had a high fever and dreadful headache, in fact 
iiched all over. At noon the next dav I sent a messen- 



REMINISCENCES FUOM DIAIiV. flO 

ger to Adjutant Arthur requestirif^ liirn to send a doctor 
to see me. In a few hours one arriv^ed, and, although 
we were perfect strangers, lie at once told me that 1 
had yellow fever, and must go back to the hospital in 
the city. This I did and was attended by Surgeon 
John B. Porter, U. S. Army, who was an old surgeon 
in the army, having entered in 1833 and served in 
Florida, likewise had been in Vera Cruz that summer 
and gone through [the scourge. Two days after I 
became delirious and knew nothing that transpired for 
two weeks, but finally recovered sufficiently to realize 
my surroundings. This was the only case that occurred 
in 800 recruits, and was thought to be rather phenome- 
nal, considering it had disappeared early in October. 
I recovered slowly, and was not able for duty until 
near the last of November, when I returned to the 
command of my recruits, 300 of whom were destined 
for regiments stationed along the road to the City of 
Mexico. 

Early in January, 1848, orders were issued for my 
regiment to move as part of an escort to a large supply 
train of 500 wagons, under command of Major Dixon 
y. Miles, of the Fifth United States Infantry, to the 
Mexican capital, 250 miles distant, and for me to con- 
tinue in command of these recruits as part of the escort, 
but to deliver at the several stations on the route .such 
recruits as beloni^ed to reiriments there stationed. This 
was a long and trying march for me in my feeble con- 
dition. I required a horse and equipments, being unable 
to march on foot. We reached Pueblo January 17; 
the 10th, Rio Frio; the 20th, San Martine, and we 
finally arrived at the City of Mexico January 23, 1848, 
where I delivered the last of the recruits, and then 

on 



100 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

joined my proper company and regiment. We rested 
a week or ten days in the City of Mexico, and received 
orders to proceed south over the mountains to the town 
of Cuernavaca, ninety miles distant, to protect the 
owners of haciendas or plantations from the uprising of 
their peons or serfs. This was rather agreeable service, 
and preferable to being idle in the city of Mexico, where 
the void, caused by nothing to do for thousands of sol- 
diers and officers, was largely filled by much gambling 
and dissipation. 

We spent two months on that trip,and saw the beau- 
ties of hacienda life, with the coffee, sugar, banana and 
orange fields, in perfection. After a few weeks in 
Cuernavaca (one of the oldest Aztec towns in Mexico)^ 
news came of the uprising of 300 peons or serfs on the 
large hacienda of a Mr. Felia, thirty-five miles south- 
Avest from Cuernavaca, and my company, with ]>art of 
another, marched to the place to protect the owner and 
his family. This family consisted of Mrs. Felia and her 
two little daughters, ten and twelve years old. It was 
a large plantation, comprising over 60,000 acres, and 
fully half of it was in thorough cultivation, with sugar, 
coffee, oranges and bananas, with large sugar-houses, a 
fine church, with steeple and belfry, and extensive resi- 
dence buildings. Its usual force of labor was 300 peons 
or serfs. Those peons corres})onded to slaves, and they 
had by some means got the idea that our invasion of 
Mexico favored a revolt against their masters, and, 
procuring some rude muskets and ammunition, they 
threatened to murder Mr. Felia and family and sack 
the premises. Mrs. Felia and her two children took 
refuse in the tower of the church and shut themselves 
in until our arrival, when the rebellious ))eons hastily 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 101 

scattered and disa[)peared. We remained there until 
orders came that peace was so nearly concluded by 
the commissioners in the city of Mexico as to warrant 
calling in to that capital all outlying- detachments, 
•and we received orders to return to Cuernavaca, and, 
with the regiment, proceed to the Mexican capital. 
This, of course, involved leaving Mr. Felia and 
family in as bad or a worse condition than they were 
before we went to their relief. While at his hacienda, 
Mr. Felia insisted on quartering our company in the 
church (which of course was his own property) and the 
officers in spacious rooms in his extensive mansion ; 
also, that our officers should take their daily meals with 
his family in their immense dining-hall, which we 
thankfully accepted. It is needless to say we fared 
sumptuously and had a splendid time. Five courses 
generally marked our dinners, and tliree courses our 
breakfasts I When we learned that we had orders to 
return to Cuernavaca, Mr. Felia prevailed on the com- 
manding officer (who was Caj)tain John It. 1>. Gardenier 
of my own regiment, First Infantry) to delav twenty- 
four hours, so that he and family could pack up their 
valuables and accompany us. at least as far as Cuerna- 
vaca. This was agreed to, and w^e all made the march 
together over the rough, hilly road, the thirty-five 
miles to Cuernavaca in two days,passing the first night 
at another smaller hacienda on our route. At this 
stopping place Ave also had pressed on us a sumptuous 
6 P. M. dinner and a good breakfast the next morning 
with most excellent claret wine at both meals. Those 
wealthy owners of haciendas spare no pains to dispense 
hospitality and secure comfort to their guests. In the 
course of conversation I learned that this splendid 



103 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

French claret (as likewise many other luxuries and 
most costly household furniture, including immense 
parlor mirrors) was all packed on mules several hun- 
dred miles from the ports of entry on the sea-cost, 
such as Acapulco and A^era Cruz, the intervening 
mountains and rugged country making it impractica- 
ble at that day and time, and for centuries before, to 
use wheeled vehicles. Mrs. Felia was a very handsome 
woman of less than thirty years; clear, bright complex- 
ion, no tinge of the dark Mexican color, in fact she 
v^ould have passed for Ame»'ican or English anywhere. 
She was one of twelve sisters, the third from the 
youngest. It was my pleasant luck to be specially 
assigned to be hen escort to Cuernavaca, with the two 
little girls. I Isad learned Spanish enough to converse 
and I gathered much information as we journeyed over 
the hills. She had one married sister living in Cuer- 
navaca, and, to my surprise, I discovered that during ray 
few weeks in that town I had been on guard duty three 
or four times close to her sister's residence ; also that the 
two attractive sehoritas I had noticed in the yard near 
my guard station were Mrs. Felia's nieces. Several of her 
other married sisters lived in the city of Mexico, and she 
gave me a letter to one of them, to be delivered when 
I should arrive there, but my duties in preparing to 
vacate the country and iharcli to A'era Cruz as a final 
departure from Mexico prevented me hunting the lady 
up, or delivering the letter. It is worth noting that 
the night before we left Felia's hacienda for Cuernavaca 
he had a dozen or fifteen trained pack-mules driven up 
to his house (by a dozen faithful house servants) on 
which were packed five thousand dollars in silver, a 
large number of valuable books and all sorts of valuable 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 103 

silverware and other tilings which we took under 
our safeguard to Cuernavaca. This so occupied 
Telia's time that he was thankful his wife had such 
a gallant young officer as the writer to escort her 
and the children on the road. The reader must accord 
to me any amount of pride and vanity in realizing 
this. In fact, Felia and his wife became my very 
attached friends, which friendship I tried to deserve, 
and reciprocate. I became convinced that I could have 
stopped with him the rest of my life, with five times 
the salary I was receiving in the army. Had I done 
so, the result would have been that in less than five 
years I would have married the eldest daughter and 
been one to share his five million dollar hacienda and 
other perquisites. At least, such was plainly before 
me, for the girl was as lovable as she was beautiful 
and sweet-tempered. Such are some of the possibilities 
that never materialize in this world, but may in the 
next. 

Having delivered Mrs. Felia at her sister's in Cuer- 
navaca, I took leave of her and her charming little 
daughters, and in twelve hours we were on our tramp 
back to the city of Mexico over the same rugged, 
dusty and mountainous road we had traveled in Feb- 
ruary. The weather had become much warmer, for it 
was now May, and we suffered from heat and dust 
greatly. We reached the city about the middle of 
Ma}^ but were doomed to disappointment in our ex- 
pectations of continuing on the coast and sailing for 
New Orleans. Some hitch had occurred in the nego- 
tiations for peace and my regiment was placed in 
quarters in the convent St. Domingo, in the city, and, 
worst of all, had to take part in "Division drills'' two 



104 KEMINISCE^^CES FROM DIARY. 

miles outside of the city, for some weeks. Persifor F. 
Smitii, who had been appointed colonel of the rifle 
reo^iment, which congress ordered raised in May, 1846, 
had been breveted a bricradier-o:eneral at the Dattle of 
Montere}' September, 1846, ami he was on duty with 
his rank, in the city of Mexico. He took special pleas- 
ure in officiating as commander on the occasions of 
those drills, in which to display his knowledge of tac- 
tics, by going through evolutions of the line with five 
or six regiments on the burning hot plain outside of 
the city. Those drills were a terror to the poor soh 
diers and subaltern officers who had to march out several 
miles on the great Mexican causeway to the drill 
grounds early in the mornings and be chased over the 
fields for two hours, then march back to quarters in 
the city — all on foot — ^while those volunteer and 
newly made generals, and field officers, rode their 
horses with half a dozen attendants. Those drills were 
not only unnecessary, but a cruel punishment inflicted 
on American soldiers in a depressing climate; when 
there was no further call for military operations in 
Mexico. Among the line officers, curses loud and deep 
were justly and freely expressed on this subject. Lieu- 
tenant U. S. Grant, of the Fourth Infantr}^ whom I 
met at one of those drills, said he would " plead sick- 
ness rather than attend any such parades to gratify 
bob-tail generals."" However, as all things have an end, 
so did these detestable drills cease to torture us. 

Finally, peace having been confirmed by duly ratified 
treaty by the Mexican and American commissioners, 
our army was rapidly put in readiness to vacate the 
city and country. 

For convenience and comfort of the men on the 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 105 

march to Vera Cruz, which was the point to embark 
for New Orleans, the army was divided into columns 
or brigades, one to march a day behind the preceding. 
The column I was in was the first to move, and June 
5, 1848, at 6 a. m., we marched out twelve miles on the 
road to our first camp, and the Mexican capital was 
virtually once more in control of the people of the 
country, after nine months' occupancy by the United 
States Army. The old capitol of the Aztecs, conquered 
and subdued by the superior Spanish race in 1522, had 
in turn been conquered and subdued by the superior 
race of Anglo-Americans in 1847, repeating and con- 
firming the indubitable fact that the stronger, robust 
and enterprising will prevail among men as among 
other elements of nature ! The theme is one to fasci- 
nate the philsopher and the moralist, to a, greater 
extent than a private journal of reminiscences will 
permit me to dwell on. I am tempted, however, to 
give expression to a few thoughts as I tramped with 
my company over the long, hot road, two hundred and 
fifty-two miles to Vera Cruz. 

The recorded events in history lead the mind far 
back, when two of the most advanced races of men 
from beyond the broad, deep waters of the Atlantic, 
left tiieir native soil to seek fortunes and glory in this 
continent. The Spaniard came first, by a century, and 
planted his seat of empire on the Gulf of Mexico, and 
lost no time in extending his sway, over all obstacles 
and races, to the Californias. Proud and haught\', 
valiant and rich, he subjugated all inferior races, who 
became his slaves and vassals. The only revenge pos- 
sible foi- the weaker was to favor a martial and social 
union, which would result in producing generations of 



106 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

a cross 'twixt conquerers and subjects. This was 
accepted and continued for three centuries, in which 
time the progeny of that cross was, and is to-day what 
we call the Mexican. They caught the fever of 
se})aration from the mother country and Spanish 
throne, and achieved independence in 1828 (being 
encouraged thereto by the example set them by another 
race of men who had also come from beyond the 
Atlantic, but who fixed their seat of government far 
north, two thousand miles from the Spaniards' point of 
landing. This other race, without going into the mon- 
grel crossings, may be called the Anglo American. 
The}^ landed also among unknown enemies, rude and 
savage tenants of the forest. While the Spaniard 
followed the Pacific coast for his dominion, the Anglo- 
American, starting at the coast of New Brunswick, 
moved south to the Sabine, and westward with the 
setting sun. This race also marched to victory and 
conquest. The natives of the forest gradually receded 
and disappeared before his stead}^ march. Both races 
overcame the greatest obstacles and both founded em- 
pires greater than the world had ever known. Egypt 
and her teeming millions, with her world-renowned 
Nile, pale in comparison to the magnificent and fabu- 
lous growth of these two American Empires, planted 
side by side, on a new continent. Even Rome in her 
palmiest day (could her eagle-eyed rulers look down to- 
day on these New World empires) would be dazzled with 
the sight. Finally these two races of neighboring nations 
find themselves face to face in battle, and as Cortez 
with his superior men of that day struck hiseff'eminate 
victims at Vera Cruz, so our superior northern Anglo- 
Americans struck the enfeebled cross between Aztec 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 107 

and Spaniard, at the same place ; and again, the stronger 
race wins the day ! The Mexican, which is the cross 
between the Spaniard and the Aztec (principally the 
female), while superior to the Aztec, is not equal to 
the Spaniard of 1520 ; still less is he able to cope 
with our Anglo-American of to-day. A subjugated, 
or at best a subordinate, position is thedestin}^ of all 
the races south of the United States. After this occurs 
we may speculate as to who shall conquer the Anglo- 
American. I leave the answer to those living, say, in 
2090. There being no enemy near enough to subdue 
the people of the United States, it will remain for 
internal dissensions, political corruption and social 
effeminacy to destroy the unity and power of the 
nation I It will then be easy for a few intrepid leaders 
to organize and take control, not only of the United 
States, but also of Mexico, and establish an imperial 
empire, with a single head, under laws enacted by a 
chosen few in mockery of the fallacious theory of a 
"vox populi" government! This Avill be the end 
of the now boasted American Republic, and of all 
South and Central American republics. The three 
hundred millions of wage slaves of that coming day 
Avill know of '' labor strikes '' and labor organizations 
of the present day only by reading of the occurrences 
in reminiscences of the nineteenth century. Bond 
slavery, being too paternal, has for half a century 
been giving wav to wage organizations; these 
in turn, after a few more decades of contentions 
and failures, will give way to a species oiwage slavery] 
and this finally will become a wage vassalage, submis- 
sive to the will and decrees of the superior elements, 
and gladlv vield to the Divine liioht of Kings 



108 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

on earth among men. Thus will the detested stone, 
rejected by the men of 1776, become the chief corner- 
stone, after all, of a new political temple I One man 
differeth from another 7nan, as one star differeth from 
another star ; one man differeth from another man, as 
the fool differeth frOm the wise man. Yea, verily, as 
the virtuous, industrious and learned differeth from the 
debased, slothful and ignorant, whose existence and 
temporal wants must be supplied by his superiors in 
the scale of humanity. To accomplish this, the su- 
perior must be master, and the inferior a slave or a 
feudatory tenant. 

But I aslv pardon for this digression, and still more 
for thrusting the future into the past and present, for 
that will come all too soon as wo advance with increas- 
ing rapidity. 

Our march to Vera Cruz (250 miles) was over the 
same route, of course, which we had traveled the year 
before. It was really a very hard march, because of 
the wet weather and too rapid marching for the poor 
foot-soldier. We reached Pueblo the 10th of June 
and Perote.the 15th, where we halted and rested three 
days, to court-martial a half-dozen American brigands 
and robbers, or free-booters, renegade followers of our 
army, mostly our discharged teamsters, who amused 
themselves robbing ranches and maltreating the poor 
Mexicans on the way to the co^st. While this trial 
and punishment was going on, myself and Lieutenant 
Thomas J. Jackson, First Artiller}', improved the op- 
portunity to mount our horses and make a visit to 
" Perote Cofre," which appeared to be only five or six 
miles from the town of Perote, where our camp was ; 
but we found, after a long, hard day's ride, that it was 



IlEMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 109 

more tlian twenty-five miles! We left at six in the 
morning, and rode all day, reaching the top in a dense 
fog after dark, with a cold wind and occasional rain. 
That strange formation of nature, " El-Cofree'' — The 
Coffer — (why so called I do not know) is a very high 
mountain peak, so clearly visible in the transparent 
atmosphere of that climate at great distance, one is 
led to think it much closer than it is. A vast body of 
heavy forest lies between Perote and the top of that 
peak — which makes it difficult to reach— while the last 
300 feet u{) to the crater, or shaft, is over rough and 
precipitous rocks, requiring one to crawl at times on 
hands and knees. We found no signs that any other 
person had actually reached the summit, although it 
\vas too dark for us to be certain on this point. A mile 
and a half before we reached the top we discovered a 
castaway sheet of an old issue of the New Orleans 
Picayune — indicating that it had been used to wrap up 
a luncheon for some one who had preceded us, at least 
that far — but Ave failed to discover signs of their hav- 
ing reached the top. 

As one draws close to the chasm,orthe mouth of the 
crater, it is only safe to do so on hands and knees, and 
even then one shudders to look over the crest down the 
bottomless cavern, from whose depths there is ever 
ascending damp, cold fogs and wind, with such force 
as to blow one's hat off I 

It took only twent}^ minutes to satisfy my curiosit}' 
about ''El Cofree,'' and I was ready to descend the 
mountain side half a mile to where we had tied our 
horses. Jackson was also satisfied to begin our return, 
for it was then dark, and there was no road other than 
an occasional sheep path, with a long stretch of heavy 



110 REMIXISt'ENCEy FROM DIARY. 

timber and many fallen trees which our horses had to step 
over, or go around. The (irst hour on return, Jackson 
lead off and I followed , then I lead and he followed ; 
so we alternated that dark and rainy night, with no 
means of knowing, for a certainty, our course. No 
road nor iiabitation existed on our line of travel and 
with a full knowledge that those mountains were the 
hiding places of innumerable brigands and Mexican 
guerrillas made our situation perilous in the extreme, 
more so than Jackson seemed to realize, but I certainly 
did most fully! About midnight we stop[)ed to con- 
sult as to what was best to do in order to keep the 
course we believed would take us back to Perote, where 
our army was encamped, but the impenetrable dark- 
ness made things uncertain. While thus debating 
our condition, we heard the faint sound of a sheep bell 
(just an occasional tinkle), and so soon as we could 
locate it we started in the direction of the sound, on 
foot, leading our horses through the bushes. In half 
an hour, as it appeared, we were close enough to dis- 
tino-uish two or three bells and we mounted our horses 

O 

and moved on towards the bells. Very soon a dog came 
out and began to bark ; this was evidence that some- 
body must be close at hand, and we turned our horses 
heads towards the dog. Halting for a moment to take 
our bearings, a voice ten rods in our front sang out, in 
Mexican Spanish :" Quien esT' (Who is it?) Jackson 
was in front and he did not know any Spanish, so he 
stoppeil and called to me, as I was trying to find his 
trail in the darkness and brush. When I reached him, 
the voice again said, " Q.uien es ! '" and I answered 
" Omigas,'' (friends,) and then asked in Spanish, " Who 
are you?" The uuan replied " Pastor ovejas'' (a shep- 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. Ill 

herd). I asked him if we were on the right road to 
Perote, He replied: "Not exactly, but close to it." 
The old Mexican herder was at first rather suspicious 
and a little afraid of two fellows, in midnight darkness 
in that out-of-the-way, unfrequented forest, and it re- 
quired some minutes for me to explain to him who we 
were, and how we came to be there. I frankly told 
him that we were American Army officers, had made 
a trip to the ''Coffer," (in Spanish " El Cofre,) mean- 
ing the high mountain pinnacle between Perote and 
Jaiapa, and we were trying to get back to our camp at 
Perote, where our soldiers were. This satisfied the old 
herder and he was anxious to do any tii ing for us that he 
could. I have no doubt he felt his own safety would be 
the better assured by our early departure. Just then 
I descried, in the darkness, close behind the old man, a 
boy who was as black almost as the night. I asked 
him who it was. '• My boy," said he. '• Does he 
know the road to Perote?" I asked. " Yes, he knows 
it." " All rigiit," said I ; "can he get on my horse, be- 
hind me, and pilot us to the town '. " " Quien sabe," (I 
don't know) he answered. However, the offer of 
'' Cinco pesos " (five dollars) soon enliglitened the old 
man, and in ten minutes more the bov, declininir to 
ride, was tripping it along in a path quite invisible to 
me, towards Perote. This was about two o'clock in the 
morning, so we continued in a walk, and as day-break 
began to light up the horizon, we could discover the 
smoke of our camp, and an hour after sunrise we 
reached our tents. I paid the five dollars, and the bov 
.said he would go to his aunt's in the town of Perote, 
close by, and get his breakfast. So ended one of tlie 
most foolhard}' and dangerous expeditions, that I was 



112 REMINISCENCES FROM ])IARY. 

ever a party to ; and yet it was entirely such freaks that 
Lieutenant Jackson took lyleasure in. This Jackson 
was my class-mate at West Point. 

Resuming our march to the coast at Vera Cruz the 
18th of June, we waded through slush and mud for sev- 
eral days, it being one of the hardest and most slavish 
marches I had to make in all the sixteen hundred miles 
I marched on foot in Mexico daring that war! But 
my health was fairly good, the greatest boon to the 
soldier. The day we reached the sea-shore (July 3d) 
four miles north of Vera Cruz, a drizzling rain had 
fallen at intervals all day and Ave found that the ex- 
pected transports to take us 900 miles, to New Orleans, 
had not yet arrived. The exposed sandy beach not being 
a favorable place to form a camp, General Kearney, 
who was in command, ordered the troops to move on 
five miles south of the city and encamp on the Madaline 
river, in a dense growth of underbrush and weeds. 
The Madaline river was a sluggish stream about one 
hundred yards wide, skirted on both sides bv a little 
timber ; the soil, being exceedingly rich, w^as covered 
with a luxuriant growth of weeds, vines and bushes. 
I was on the rear guard that day and did not reach 
the camp until nearly midnight, in pitchy darkness, 
when all but my own guard were quiet in sleep. I 
felt it useless to seek my own company, or even a 
favorable place to bivouac, and made virtue of a 
necessit}', my guard and self lay down quietly on our 
blankets where we first halted, preferring rest and sleep 
to even a cup of coffee. By sunrise the morning of 
July 13th a courier from Vera Cruz brought informa- 
tion that a number of transports had arrived during the 
night and troops sufficient to load them were at once 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 113 

ordered to counteriiiarcli back to A^era Cruz and ero on 
board. My company was one to start, and by sunset I 
was safel\^ on board of a steamer bound for New 
Orleans. This was the hour to rejoice ! We were 
leaving Mexico for good, and some at least starting for 
home and friends. Although I dreaded sea-sickness, 
yet I recanted my vow made at Brazos Island to return 
by land and was prepared to endure it for the sake of 
reaching once more " God's Countr}^ •' in the United 
States. Strange it was, too — I was not sea-sick one 
hour on the trip ! The 900 miles from Vera Cruz to 
New Orleans was made in eight days and a half to the 
mouth of the Mississippi river, which, in those days, 
was about 125 miles below New Orleans; and the ninth 
day, which was July 22d, reached the wharf at New 
Orleans at 4 p. m. Hastily we disembarked; the 
quartermaster had drays and carts ready to transport 
our camp equipage and luggage through the city to a 
steamer awaiting us on Lake Pontchartrain. We 
marched the distance in an hour, and was soon on 
board, and steaming away to a place called East 
Pascagbula, on the lake shore between New Orleans and 
Mobile, in the State of Mississippi. This was a place 
selected by some officer (perhaps General Twiggs) 
as a suitable encampment, where the war men could 
be discharged — companies of the regular army be re- 
filled with new recruits, and prepare for further service 
on tiie frontiers. I was in command of my company, 
the captain being absent sick. I had my first exper- 
ience in making out discharges and final papers for 
those men in the company, who had enlisted in the war. 
The three or four regiments of regulars, and parts of 
regiments, (the First, Third and Fifth infantries) 



114 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

formed as pleasant an encampment as was possible in 
the pine woods bordering on Lake Pontchartrain, and 
went to work discharging "war's men," and awaiting 
fresh recruits from different cities and recruiting 
stations. We passed the time as well as we could till 
late in the autumn, when orders came assigning the 
regular troops to their several stations elsewhere. 
While in camp there I received a letter fi'om my father, 
from Dandridge Tennessee, informing me mv Grand- 
father Turnle}^ had died Sept. 28, 1848. My company 
and one other embarked for Port Lavaca, Texas, thence 
to San Antonio, and from thereto Austin, Texas, where 
we finally arrived near the end of the year 1848. We 
disembarked at Port Lavaca, marched thence 130 
miles to San Antonio and encamped for two weeks 
fiv^e miles from the town on the Sallow, or " Salada " 
Creek, where we remained for a week or two. We 
then marched 80 miles to Austin, where we remained 
(the two companies) till March, 1849. 

Captain John H. King, of Company I, First Infantry, 
was in command of the battalion of two companies, 
and his lieutenant was William L. Crittenden, while I 
was the only officer with my company. Lieutenant 
Crittenden resigned on the 1st of March, 18a0, and left 
the service. Crittenden was a nephew of the noted 
senator, John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky, and was a 
brave, fearless officer — I may say a somewhat reckless 
fellow. He joined the adventurer, General Lopez, in 
his raid on Cuba in 1851. Crittenden was captured 
while trying to escape in a small boat or launch by a 
Spanish man-of-war, taken back to ])rison in Cuba, 
tried, sentenced, and was shot to death on the 16th of 
August, 1851, at the Castle of Atares, Havana harbor. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 115 

There were, several; in the expedition sljot ut the same 
time. Being paraded in line, and all tilings ready for 
the firing by aj platoon of Spanish soldiers, the order 
was given for the^doomed prisoners to Uneel and receive 
their deatli shots. All did kneel, except Crittenden, 
who, when the order was given to kneel, sung out in a 
loud voice: "I never kneel except to my God."' He 
dropped dead at the discharge of guns. 

During our stay in Austin, I reconnoitered that 
town andjthe country round about, and the little river 
Colorado. In March we received orders to strike tents 
and march back to^San Antonio. For what purpose 
we ever^went^to Austin was never yet made known, or 
even discovered by the powers who ordered the march. 
Gen. William Worth was in command of that depart- 
ment with headquarters at San Antonio, and on 
arriving there he. ordered three companies under com- 
mand of Captain Burbank to i)roceed vrestward, one 
company to stop and take post on the Biona river 
ninetv miles from San Antonio ; tlie other two com- 
panies to continue on sixty-five miles further to the Rio 
Grande, opposite the old Mexican town of PreHidio 
and there establish a post. My company was one to 
go to the Bio Grande, with Captain Burbank, We 
found the place to be a most desolate sand plain, 
destitute of grass or fuel, but covered with starving 
grasshoppers ! Captain Burbank was an old officer, 
had served in the army since 1829 — a period of twenty 
years; one who strictlx' obeyed orders, but was at a 
loss to know what to do in tiiis case. General Worth, 
in San Antonio, 150 miles distant, had given orders to 
establish a post at that particular point, yef, it was a 
place utterly unsuited for the purpose. I suggested to 



lUi UEMINISCENCKS FROM DIAKY. 

Captain l^)Urbank tliat we fonnulate a rejiort to "Worth, 
givini;' the ilesohite character of the phice and send a 
courier back with it. and await Worth's reply — that 
we suggest in our report the better sites to be found 
farther up the Rio Grande. This we did, and in ten 
days we received General "Worth's reply, authorizing 
us to select a place not more than thirty miles further 
up the river. This lead us to the place selected, now 
called Fort Duncan, where we established that post, 
sometimes called Eagle Pass. The site Ave selected 
Avas a plateau, back from the river a few hundred yards 
— in fact, a second plateau (piite thickly set with 
musketo trees, resembling in all I'espects our old-time 
]ieach orchards in some of the Middle States, but not 
numerous enough to interfere with our })itching tents 
for a permanent encanij^ment. No building timber 
existed anywhere Avithin a hundrd miles of that inirt of 
Texas, but a fairly good article of silicious sandstone 
could be had on the edge of the plateau. My company 
was a mounted infantry company, and I Avas acting as- 
quartermaster, commissary, adjutant — besides com- 
manding the company in the absence of the captain. I 
had too much work for one officer, but soon formed a 
very well arranged camp and got a dozen soldiers, 
whose trade had been stone work, to quarrying stone, 
others to hauling it. and still others who went to Avork 
putting up a stone storehouse and hospital. I con- 
tinued at this till October, when my comininv was 
detailed to proceed to the Liona river, there to aAvait, 
and join as an escort, some two hundred frei<^ht 
Avagons loaded Avith supplies for El Paso, and posts in 
that region. I Avas glad of the detail, and escorted 
the supply train as far as the Pecos river, sav about 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 117 

230 miles from San Antonio. At tiiat ])oint teams and 
escort, from El Paso, met our train and my company 
beint^ relieved, I returned to Fort Duncan by the lirst 
of December and continued my work at that post till 
April, 1850. I was then again detailed by selection by 
General Brooks, in San Antonio, to till my company to 
a hundred strong, fi'om other companies, and escort an- 
other train of ?)()() teams and 500 beef cattle all the way 
to El Paso. Captain John T. Sprague, of the Eighth 
Infantry, uent in command of the outfit, and I was the 
acting quartermaster and commissary. The distance 
from San Antonio to El Paso by our route was about 
650 miles. Little did I then suppose, that almost by 
the time I should write u[) my notes and itinerary 
of that trip, a railroad would be projected and 
partly running dail}' trains almost over my old trail. 
Such, however, has been the progress in means to 
reach our ac(|uired jiossessions on the Pacific Coast, by 
the Mexican War. 

One important incident connected with this expedi- 
tion, I think it pr(jperto record. Captain Sprague be- 
longed to the Eif-hth United States Infantrv. and the 
regiment of which Gen. William AVorth was so many 
years the colonel. Sprague had married Worth's 
daughter and had been for a long time on Worth's 
personal stafi". He had reached the brevet of major 
for some service in Florida, in 1842. He had never 
seen much rugged service in the field. In fact Sprague 
was a scholarly gentleman, fitted for the '' Sunday 
inspection," or the '' Dress parade service,'' and had 
personally asked lor the command of this expedition, 
merely to make a showing of field service. The officers 
with the expedition were : Brevet-Major John T. 



118 REMINISCE NOES FROM DIARY. 

Sprae^ue, in command ; Lieut. P. T. Turnley as com- 
missary and quartermaster; Lieut. A. G. Miller, 
First Infantry ; Lieut. James P. Roy, Eighth 
Infantry, and Lieut. Thornton A. Washington, 
First Infantry. I am the onl}^ one now living of the 
five. As tlie quartermaster and commissary of the 
outfit, I really had all the responsibility, which fact I 
fully realized at the outset. The route to be traveled 
was from San Antonio west, through the^little villages of 
Castroville, Yandenburgh and Quihi ; thence on to the 
Liona River (mentioned in previous pages) and thence 
sixty miles to the San Pedro river or, as it was called, 
"Devil's river;" then up that tortuous little river fifteen 
miles (crossing the stream in that distance no 'less than 
seven times), after which the trail ascended the hill five 
miles to a high, rolling prairie, which in fiftv miles 
further led to the Pecos river or, more properl}?^, the 
"Puerco river" or, as the Spaniards had named it two 
centuries before "El Rio Pnerco." Puerco in Spanish 
means filthy, dirtv, nasty, and certainlv the old Spaniards 
iiad fitly named that river. Itisoneof the most difficult 
rivers to cross in all that region of country , although only 
75 to 90 feet wide ! Not a stick of timber can be found 
within miles of it. It is S to 12 feet deep, running 
smoothly and quietly four miles an hour — the prairie 
grass growing thick, even to the water's edge, and one 
never knows he is near the river till he is almost into it. 
It is difficult to describe the character of the water. 
Neither man nor beast can drink it and live. It will 
kill quadrupeds, and sicken man unto death, if he 
sticks to it a few days. As nearly as I can describe 
it — I will say — take a glass of ordinary spring water, 
put in it a tablespoonful of dirt or sand, then add a 



REMINISCENCES FKOM DIARY. U9 

teaspoonfiil of common salt and half that amount of 
magnesia, and you will have a specimen resembling- the 
Avater of the Puerco river! There were no fords near 
our line of travel and thedeptli of water, swiftness of 
current and vertical banks made it impossible even to 
swim animals over it, as they could not get out on the 
opposite shore. Knowing these facts from ni}' previous 
visit to that river, 1 had made requisition on the 
quartermaster at ISTew Orleans, to ship, with other 
supplies, three iron rods 90 feet long and one inch 
and one-quarter in diameter, with fittings ; also 100 3- 
inch planks 10 feet long, so I could throw a tem- 
porary bridge across the stream. Arriving at the 
river, we went into camp for two days, in which 
time I put the bridge over, and we transferred 
our loaded wagons over it by hand. Meanwhile, 
I found a place five miles below where the river 
was wider and only four feet deep, with intlurated 
clay bottom, enabling us to ford our 1,800 mules and 
500 beef cattle at that place. All this being done, we 
resumed our march, and in four days we reached what 
my Mexican guide called the '' Rose Pass,-' where 
there was abundance of excellent water and grass. 
This was merely a narrow pass over the ridge to a 
beautiful and extensive rolling prairie, stretching off 
westward toward the Rio Grande, which was still over 
ninety miles distant. We went into camp at this 
place, to cut wagon tire and mend up things generally 
— and also sent a pioneer party, with a guide, on to 
the front for a hundred miles to examine as to water 
and grass. After five days waiting our guide returned,, 
and reported there was no water on our line of travel 
after leaving this place we were in, for a distance of 



120 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

ninet}^ miles. This was alaniiino-. The problem was, 
how was it possible to take 300 loaded wagons, 1,800 
mules, 500 beef cattle and 400 soldiers and teamsters 
ninety miles, in August, in that climate, without water. 
But there was no alternative. It had to be done. Each 
wagon had a ten gallon keg hung to the axel, and we 
filled every keg with water, which was ample for all 
the men for the trip. The prairie we had to traverse 
was grand in the extreme — althouoh no rains had 
fallen since April, yet the native grass was nearly a 
foot high, and green. I had discovered that nightly 
dews were most copious. The entire field of grass was 
saturated during the night by the heavy dew fall, and 
animals feedino- on the grass from midnioht to sunrise 
would not only get food but also sufficient water to 
serve all purposes. This discovery solved the [)roblem. 
We started out a hundred teams two hours before 
sunset with orders to travel till midnight, then halt on 
the trail, turn out the mules and let them feed till 
after sunrise, then hitch up and move on till noon, 
then halt and turn out till near midnight, and resume 
the march and so on till the ninety miles was made, 
which brought us to water. Each section of one hundred 
teams followed eight hours after the preceding and 
pursued the same method. The 500 beef cattle was 
the last section to leave. We made tlie march with 
the loss of but two mules and three cattle. I have 
always felt proud of that ninety-mile march without 
water for so many animals. I doubt if any horde of 
Bedouins ever performed a greater feat on the desert. 
At El Paso I delivered all supplies and freight, and 
after resting a week took up the march on return. It 
was back on the same 650 mile trail, with no occur- 



REMINISCENCES FKOM DIARY. 121 

rences worth narrating. It was late in the winter before 
I arrived again at the post of Ft. Duncan. After a 
rest of a month, I was ordered to open a road from 
that post to Laredo, 125 miles down the Rio Grande, 
and directed to build store-houses and hospital near 
the little Mexican town of Laredo, which I did. It is 
called Ft. Mcintosh. 

While at that work, I made occasional Indian 
scouts, for the Comanche and Lipon Indians were, in 
those days, numerous and dangerous to travelers. In 
Februarv, 1852, General Brooks again detailed me, by 
selection, to report in person at his headquarters in 
San Antonio, to accompany Lieutenant-Colonel Bain- 
bridge with a command to a suitable point on the 
Llano river some 200 miles northwest from San 
Antonio, and establisli a military ]iost. Brooks was 
soon relieved, and Gen. Persifer F. Smith succeeded 
him. Smith was a diseased dyspeptic, and cynical bv 
nature. He derived more comfort from making others 
miserable than he did in temporary relief from his own 
bodily afflictions. We arrived on the ground and 
selected a site for the post early in March, 1852. It is 
called Fort Territt, for Lieut. Territt, First Infantry, 
kdled at Monterey. Stone and building timber could 
be had within six miles from the site, and we went to 
work cutting and hauling logs to put up buiUlings. We 
had no saw-mill outfit, but hewed out everything by 
hand. I continued at this till June. In June, 1852, I 
had been promoted to first lieutenant. The troops of 
this Llano expedition were all of my own regiment and 
I was made legimental quartermaster. While thus 
engaged building that new i)ost, it fell to my good luck 
to receive the detail as a first lieutenant from my 



122 REMINISCE N^CES FROM DIARY. 

regiment, for a two years recruiting. Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Bainbridge urged me very much to 
decline the recruiting detail, and remain with 
him building the post. But the very idea was prepos- 
terous, for 1 had then been in tents, in the hardest kind 
of frontier duty, since ray landing at A^era Cruz with 
those 800 recruits in October, 1847, say nearly five 
years, and it will readily appear to a civilized person 
with what pleasure I looked forward once more to tasting 
the ]ileasures of home society in God's country. I iiad 
to wait two weeks for Lieutenant S. B. Hallabird to 
come all the way from Ft. Brown (opposite Matamoras) 
to relieve me as quartermaster. He finalh' arrived, 
and I soon made a transfer of all my public property 
and money and set out eastward. I reached San 
Antonio just in time to be present at the marriage of 
Lieut. Tliomas G. Pitcher, of the Eightli Infantry, 
with Miss Mary Bradley. From there I went to 
Austin, Texas, thence by stage to Houston, where I 
spent a day with my uncle Andrew J. Turnley, 
thence on a steamer to Galveston, where, in 
two days, I took steamer to New Orleans. Leav- 
ing New Orleans, by way of Mobile to Montgom- 
ery, thence by stage through Wetumpka and Jack- 
sonville, Ala., to Cedar Bluff, where my uncle, Judge 
M. J. Turnley, lived. I arrived there quite unwell, 
from a severe bowel complaint, which I feared the 
more because I had passed through parts of the South 
where cholera was quite prevalent. However, a few 
days' rest restored me and in that time I prevailed on 
ray uncle and his wife to let their oldest daughter, 
Mattie (then twelve years old), accompany me to 
Charleston, South Carolina, to enter the Misses Bates' 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 123 

line seminary. Taking a horse and buggy from Cedar 
Bluff, Alabama, thirty miles to Rome, Georgia, where 
I reached railroad ; and arrived safely at the Palmetto 
Hotel, Charleston, South Carolina, about the 1st of 
August. After installing my little cousin, Martha (or 
Mattie), in the seminar}', I went on to New York and 
reported in person to Col. Joseph Plympton, Seventh 
United States Infantry, who was then general superin- 
tendent of the entire recruiting service. After a week's 
delay in New York City, I was given my choice of 
stations between Rochester, N. Y., and Chicago, III. 
I chose the latter, and the first of September, 1852, I 
arrived at the Tremont Hotel, Chicago, antl relieved 
1st Lieut. George W. Rains, of the Fourth Artillery, 
who had been in charge for a year. 

Thus, I was, after live years of very rough life along 
thousands of miles of distant frontiers, settled down 
in a good hotel, in the rapidly growing city of Chicago, 
where I gladly forgot the eremite, and made arrange- 
ments to become once more civilized. 

Se])tember, 1852, I relieved 1st Lieut. George W. 
Rains, of the Fourth United States Artillery, in the 
recruiting service in Chicago. I boarded a while at 
the old frame building called the Sherman House, on 
the corner of Clark and Randolph streets ; then went 
to the newly opened Tremont, corner Lake and Dear- 
born streets. I opened my recruiting office on the sec- 
ond floor of 44 Clark street. It was a new brick 
building, owned or controlled by a Mr. Eddy. Soon 
after a Mr. Seth Pain opened a bank on the first floor, 
and Eddy and two or three women joined Pain in the 
banking business. All of them pretended to be of the 
growing fraternity called spiritualists, and called that 



124 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

•'The Spiritual Bank." Their conduct soon l)ecanie a 
nuisance, not to say obscene and dis^ustin*^-, and I re- 
moved my office west of the river, on Canal street. 
The next year I moved into the new brick on the west 
side of State street, second door south of Lake, where 
I continued it till the close of mv tour of recruitino-, and 
was relieved by Lieutenant Collins, Fourth Infantry. 
My sojourn for two years in Chicago was a ])eriod of 
quiet rest from the rough life on the frontiers, and in 
manv ways agreeable. Chicago at that time contained 
twenty-five thousand people, mainly old-time settlers 
from the eastern, northern and middle states of the 
Union ; the Michigan Central and Southern Railways 
had just been completed, a great boom had commenced 
with real estate, in fact in all lines of business, immi- 
gration soon increased to enormous proportions. All 
parts of the old northern states and Europe began 
pouring into the new city vast populations, everv one 
of whom was after the almighty dollar, and wanted 
enough of them to make them rich in the shortest pos- 
sible time. The rapid rise in lots and acres amazed 
even the most sanguine, and turned the heads of not a 
few. With slight periods of stagnation and set-backs 
from wild-cat money, overtrading and balloon specu- 
lations, Chicago has to the present moved steadily on 
and increased in ])opulation and wealth, but not in 
morals. Even the great fires of October, 1871, and 
Julv, 1874, only added impetus and enterprise to the 
con<^lomerate mongrel hordes of human being-s who 
sought Chicago as the Mecca of their fortunes, till at 
present the million of population, containing every 
class of human beings, every variety of- character and 
condition of life, makes the cit}'^ a vara avis among 



REMINISCENCES FI^OM DIARY. 125 

cities of the earth. Its diverse elements of differino^ 
nationalities, customs, manners and religions, yet con- 
crete in seeking worldly gain and temporal pleasures, 
stamps Chicago as entirely phenomenal. Tlie rapidity 
with which it has grown by accretions from every civ- 
ilized nation (as well as from ^he uncivilized), the lati- 
tude allowed and practiced in the ethics of business and 
pleasure, stamps Chicago a.s 770-71 at ion^s city. 

In this respect the human mass is yet to settle into 
some acknowledged unity and harmony, not yet defin- 
able. It is at present writing far removed from what 
we understand to be an American c'\ty, while it onlv 
partially reminds one of European cities. It may in 
time crystallize into a tolerant mass of " go-as-you-please 
independents'" of many millions of people and finally 
for self-preservation seek safety in an accepted oligarch- 
ical government within its limits. Things marked in 
the decalogue as crimes in times past receive quite a 
different interpretation by high and low in Chicago. 
Thou shalt steal and thou mav commit murder is the 
reading in Chicago. Women are great beneficiaries, 
however, of this advanced code of society and revised 
morals in Chicago, and we may hope in due time the 
female slave to brute man's will and passion shall 
cease. Tlie hideous, cruel and worse than barbarous 
dictum, during all these many centuries past, that a 
poor devil of a man, and a poor pitiable creature of a 
woman, shall marr}' — if at all — for, ''so long as both 
do live" on this earth, is, thanks to progressive Chi- 
cago, being rapidly consigned to a desuetude most 
hopeful and promising of beneficient results. It is 
opening the gates to a higher civilization by acknowl- 
edging and practicing the theory, that when two per- 



126 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

sons of opposite sex meet and marry, ignorant of each 
other's inner life, temper, habits and disposition, the 
world's best interests and nature's eternal laws require 
them to separate, and each try again — if they must. 
Experience already begins to work a remedy, and 
while a few here and tiiiere again take chances in the 
bonds of misery, yet eight out of ten divorced couples 
fight shy of the hazard of second marriage, save as a 
business transaction, free from illusory sentiment. 

Society in Chicago at that time was excellent, and 
hospitality was liberall}^ dispensed in every man's un- 
pretentious, but comfortable home. Then, as ever 
since, there were the three divisions of the city ; each 
claimed its circle of contiguous, special friends, but a 
general and harmonious commingling for social inter- 
course was the rule. Especially were visitors and 
strangers temporarily stopping in the city most wel- 
come and hospitably entertained. At that time, too, 
nearly every famih'- was to the manor born Americans. 
I am at a loss just here, whether to transcribe from my 
diary the details of an episode which occurred to me 
while in Chicago. I have so often and so candidly, too, 
approved of St. Paul's injunction, that those do better 
who do not marry, it is scarcely good tactics to record 
one's own departure from approved advice, which will 
be, if not stultifying, at least confession of voluntary 
inconsistency. However, as the thing long ago became 
known, I may as well confess the act, and that is that 
on the twenty-first day of September, 1853, I married 
me a wife. The young lady in the case was Miss Mary 
Ryerson Eutter, a daughter of Doctor David Rutter, 
then living on the northwest corner of "Wabash avenue 
and Madison street. She was not quite eighteen years 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 127 

of age, while I was thirty-two, which no doubt accounts 
for my victory over youth, beaut\^ and inexperience. 
However, I was at least considerate and humane after 
my victory, for instead of ruthlessly flying away with 
her from her home nest, I made her home my home for 
nearly two years, and it was not till the summer of 
1855, when my official work called me to the upper 
Missouri river, that she and her babe and nurse fol- 
lowed me on a late autumn steamer leaving- St. Louis 
for Fort Pierre, where I was stationed on duty. This 
will be narrated in subsequent pages. 

CHAPTER VI. 



While on duty. in Chicago, as narrated at close of 
preceding chapter (ISTovember, 1854), 1 completed a 
design for a portable cottage for use of the array in the 
timberless frontiers and especially for use in Texas, 
New Mexico and Arizona. My years of service in that 
frontier, after the close of the Mexican War, had 
impressed me with a want of some kind of shelter bet- 
ter than the common canvas tent. Troops had to be 
.stationed along the Rio Grande and other parts of a 
vast frontier on account of Indian incursions, and at 
places where no timber existed suitable for shelter; and 
by army regulations, only permanent quarters permitted 
the use of stone or brick. Consequently the troops 
had to live in tents year in and year out, alike in the 
cold "Northers" and under scorching suns of summer. 

This condition of life prompted me to devise some 
kind of convenient and portable shelter, inexpensive, 
yet superior to the tent. My design consisted of two 
sizes of cottage, one 30x15 feet, with a movable parti- 



128 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

tion, thus giving two rooms about 15 feet square eacli, 
for officers, and another size 40x18 feet, without parti- 
tion, for the use of the soldiers, for hos])ital and for 
storehouse. Both sizes were entirely similar in con- 
struction, consisting of sills, 4x4 inches, with a groove 
on top side 7-8 of an inch wide bv 1 inch deep, then a 
plate 3x2 inches grooved in like manner on the under 
side; and the walls, or sides of cottage, consisted of 
clear ])ine boards dressed both sides, 8 feet long and to 
exact width of 10 inches. This board stood vertically 
in the groove in the sill, and the edge of the board fitted 
into a stanchion 3x2 inches, dressed to exact dimensions, 
M'ith grooves in the two opposite sides, half an inch 
deep, and at the corners where sill and plate crossed, 
corner stanchions or posts 3x3 inches were erected with 
concealed nuts or '' bnrrs," let in to receive 5-8 iron 
screws bolts, inserted from under the sill and from top 
of plate. So that, when the side boards and stanchions 
were all set up, the whole is made firm by the screw 
bolts. The doors and windows Avere made complete in 
fravies the exact multiple of three juinels, the sash 
glazed and put in, also blinds, and the doors hung com- 
plete with locks and keys, and this frame containing 
door or window could be plyced in position as the walls 
or the partition went up, and at any point in the walls 
desired. One of the smaller ci-ttages, completed, 
weighed about 2,000 pounds, and could be readily packed 
on one of the ordinary army wagons, for transporta- 
tion. The larger ones weighed about 3,000 pounds, 
and could also be transported on one wagon. When 
unloaded at the place required, it took three men about 
three hours to erect one, and one additional hour to put 
on the I'oof. This roof was also made in sections of 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 129 

matched light pine, and put together with battens like the 
ordinary batten-door, and then covered with an 
asphalt paper, secured to the boards by light battens 
or strips. I submitted complete drawings of these cot- 
tages to the quai'termasler-general (at that time 
Gen, T. S. Jesup), and stated tliat I would make one 
as a sample, at my own expense, if desired. The gen- 
eral replied that after examination, and my statement 
of cost, weight and durability, tiie department had 
concluded to order ine to go to Cincinnati and con- 
struct twenty of the smaller and ten of the larger, 
which I proceeded to do. On arriving at Cincinnati, 
I selected Johnson & Morton's pUming mill and fac- 
tory as the best place to have the work done. That 
factory then stood on the Ohio river, at the extreme 
upper end of the city. Having other work on liand, I 
had to wait some weeks before the work commenced. 
B}' the first of March, 1855, the cottages were done, 
and I expected orders to ship them for Texas, but in a 
few days I received notice that the department had 
concluded to send the cottages to old Fort Pierre, on 
the upper Missouri river. This surprised and some- 
what disgusted me, for I was by no means sanguine of 
the utility of the cottages in so cold a climate, and 
above all where blizzards were frequent and of un- 
known velocity. However, surprises were always in 
order from Washington in such matters, and I soon 
learned that a steamboat would arrive from St, Louis 
to take them on board, and that I would have them 
properly sliipped, together with such extra stuff — 
nails, screws, etc. — as might be necessar3^ 

During the spring of 1855, the War Department had 
determined to send an expedition after the Bruh' 



130 P.E.MINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

Indians, antl some other disatt'ected tribes of tlie Sioux, 
then roainino- alono- tlie North P)att(^ river. General 
Harney was to coininand the expedition, and would 
organize liis force at Leavenworth and be ready to 
start early in ]\Iay, 1855. His course would be up the 
Platte river, over to Fort Laramie, and thence 
in the autumn to some point on the Missouri 
I'iver, where it was designed his forces would 
spend the winter. General Harney was spoiling for a 
tight with Tii'lians. no matter what nntion or tribe, for 
the Indian was always Harney's favorite foe, and para- 
doxical as it may appear, a!)out his only congenial 
friend. Whv "this was thus," no mortal could ever 
tell, unless it was that both Harney and the Indians liad 
somewhat similar ideas of warfai'e, and did not ditfer 
materially in their degrees of intelligence. Besides 
this Indian "hunt'' there was another object in view, 
as it appeared in the minds of Washington officials. 
The Indian trading post known as Fort Pierre had 
been occupied bv the American Fur Company of St. 
Louis for almost half a century, and the Conipany was 
desirous of selling it. The War Department therefore 
<letermined that Harney's expedition should winter his 
forces at that point after his summer campaign. Ijut 
this necessitated concentrating at Fort Pierre the 
requisite clothing, subsistence antl other supplies dur- 
ing the summer, so that when Ilarnev should arrive 
there late in the fall, he would lind ample accommoda- 
tions and supplies. To do this and prepare Fort 
Pierre for such winter occupancy required a large 
amount of freight to go up the Missouri river, which at 
that time was a river little known to boatmen, with a 
stretch of moi-ethan twelve hundred miles uninhabited. 



REMINISCENCES FKOM DIARY. 131 

with not a settlement or wood yard, or other con- 
veniences in all that distance. It was therefore deter- 
mined that the quartermaster's department should 
purchase two steamers for this service. Major Vinton, 
U. S. Army, was the chief quartermaster at the time in 
St. Louis, where all matters connected with the work 
were being done, although Major E. A. Ogden, assistant 
<]uartermaster, was also in St. Louis, and was more 
especially charged with the matter of purchasing the 
steamers and iitting them out. Ogden, however, was 
unfortunate in his selection of steamers; but whether 
because of lack of judgment, or by reason of instruc- 
tions from Washington, I never -knew. What was 
really required, and the only kind of steamers capable 
of being made useful at that time up the Missouri river, 
was a small, light draft, wide and flat-bottom boat, 
with the least possible upper ham|)er, as the winds in 
that region are severe and frequent, while the shift- 
ing channels and shallow bars require light draft. 
Major Ogden, however, purchased two steamers the 
very opposite to these characteristics. One, called the 
Wm. Baird, was an immense double-stern-wheeler, 
very high between decks, very long and wide, made to 
carry a thousand tons, antl to draw from five to seven 
feet of water. The other boat called the Gray Cloud, a. 
side-wheel steamer, much better suited to the work 
than the Wm. JBaird, but still too large and high in 
her cabin, and of too g-reat draught. As I knew Omlen 
to be a careful and experienced officer, I was always 
at a loss to account for his selection of these boats for 
that unusual and exceptional service. On inquiry I 
learned that the Wm. Baird had been built by some 
parties for use on the lower ]\[ississippi especially to 



132 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

carry large cargoes of cotton, and was supplied with 
double stern wheels as an ex|)erinient, and slie had 
proved an expensive failure; so much so that her 
owners were anxious tc get rid of her. Also that the 
Gray Cloud was only a little less a failure to her 
owners, in lower Mississii)j)i service, and that tiiey also 
were anxious to sell. These things were in my mind all 
the while I was hammering awny over sand-bars, tiy- 
ing to reach Fort Tierre during May and June, 1855, 
for I was the one detailed to take the two boats, with 
their cargoes, to Fort Pierre. Private vessels were 
lliere ready to transport any and everything the gov- 
ernment required at a fair, thougii a good paying 
price, and I often wondered why it was that such had 
not been engaged instead of j)urchasing, manning, and 
running steamers by the department. However, all 
this amounted to nothing at that stage of the game, 
for the boats had been jmrchased, the Wni. Baird at 
forty thousand dollars and the Gray Cloud at about 
thirtv or thirty-five thousand. In due time the Win. 
Bairti arrived at Cincinnati and I loaded all the cot- 
tages on her, and she set out for St. Louis, there to 
complete her cargo. I did not go on board, but went 
by rail via Chicago, where my wife and babe were, 
the latter then four weeks old, and which I had not 
yet seen. Leaving Cincinnati the 2Sth of May, I tai-- 
ried in Chicago till the 3d of June, tiien hurried on to 
St. Louis. It was a great disappointment not to be 
able to take wife a1id babe with me. Two or three 
days is but a short time in which to inspect and 
become acquamted with one's first baby, but that is 
all the time 1 could give to it, and, so far as I could 
tell at that time, she was up to the average of her sex. 



REiMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 133 

She is, at this writing, full grown and able to speak 
for herself, which she is at full liberty to do if what is 
here said be not suificient. 

On arrival at St. Louis I found the other steamer 
(Gray (Jloud) taking on her freight for up the river, 
and the next day the Wm Baird ari-ived with her 
partial cargo from Cincinnati and at once began 
com[)leting her load. In tlie meantime Major E, A. 
Ogden was busy perfecting the outfitting of the two 
steamers for their long and uncertain trip. Captain 
Tliomas W. Fithian was put in charge of the Wm. 
Baird as master of vessel at a salary of $8.00 per day, 
or $250 per month, and a tall, lean, sharp-featured 
man by name of Bliny A. Alford was master of the 
Gray Cloud at the same rate of pay. As I afterwards 
learned, these two men wei'e more or less pecuniarily 
interested in the sale of these steamers to the Govern- 
ment, but to what extent was not clear ; each received 
eight dollars a day to command them, with board, etc. 
Each boat had a chief pilot at ten dollars per day and 
board, and a second pilot at $8.U<) per day. Each 
boat's engineers (two on the Gray Cloud and four 
engineers on the Wm. Baird, she having two engines 
to work), received $5.00 each per day and board. One 
mate on each received $5 per day and board. One 
cook and one steward on each boat received each 
$3.00 per day. One blacksmith and shij) carpenter on 
each at $4.00 per day, with twenty-live deck hands 
iind roustabouts on each boat at Ijoard and $1.50 per 
day, completed the outfit. By a slight computation it 
will thus be seen that one of these steamers cost about 
$9o per day for the pay of the employes, say 35 in 
number, and the one army ration and a half allowed 



184 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARV. 

to each j)ei'son, at a cost of 25 cents the ration, 
reached fully $10 per day, making fully $100 per 
day as the least cost to Government for each 
vessel while not running ; and when running 
of course cost of fuel must be added. It was not till 
the 5th of June that the boats were fully ready to 
cut cable, and as these large and badly suited trans- 
ports drew about 15 inches of water when I'lcjld (not a 
ton on board) it was discovered that only three or 
four hundi'ed tons })ut them as deep in water as it was 
safe to count on, to reach Fort Pierre. Instead, there- 
fore, of these costh' elephants carrying the neetled 
supplies (and troops) other and private transports had 
at last to be employed "at so much a ton freight, of 
course." Several companies of infantry had, mean- 
time, been concentrated at Alton " twenty miles above 
St. Louis" to be taken on board, destined to garrison 
the post of Fort Pierre. Th^ private transports hired 
to complete the work the two steamers had been ])ur- 
chased for but utterly failed to do, were the Arabia, 
Clai'a and Kate Swinny, all light draft side 
wheel boats, owned and operated b}^ private enterprise: 
and were then taking on board the Fur Com])any's 
annual supplies; and also the annual supply of Indum 
croods, which the United States Government annuallv 
})lace at the disposal of the score of favored i-ascals, 
yclept "Indian agents." These three steamers had 
contracted with the Fur Company and with the In- 
dian agent, to carry their annual supplies to such 
points as desired on the u[)j)er Missouri river, all of 
said points were at and above Fort Pierre, yet they 
could take on board much more fi'eight if necessary. 
Hence the three steamers named were enfiatjed to take 



RExMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 135 

on certain of the troops at Alton, Leavenworth and 
other points, and (leHver tliem at Fort Piei-re. I lin- 
ally left St. Lonis, June 7, 185r», on the William 13aird, 
as the cliief ([uarterinaster of the entire flotilla, " with 
nothing but verbal orders," to ])roceed tfiere and 
enter on the usual duties of my office. xS^ot a word 
was told me about the jmrc/Ki.se of Foi't Pierre. (It 
was afterwards developt^d that ]\Jajor Ogden had 
carried in iiis pocket, the contract for the purchase for 
sevei'ai days for the pur|;ose of (jvvhuj 'it to me, but luul 
entirely forgotten to do so. Hence, my blissful ignor- 
ance.) That nigiit (Jutie 7th) I took on l)oar(l tiie Wm. 
J>aird at Alton, Com[)any I Second Infantry, with 
its Cat)tain Delosier Uavitlson and his First Lieuten- 
ant Thomas W. Sweeny, and the same day, the Gray 
Clond took on boai'd Company A. Second Infanti'v and 
Caj)tain C. S, Lowell and his first Lieutenant Caleb 
Smith, while the Arabia took on board tlie lieachjuart- 
ers of the regiment and Company G Second Infantry 
with Captain and lirevt. Major Heniy W. Wessels, 
and his I'irst Lieutenant jN". H. JNIcLean, (t!ie adjutant 
of the regiment). These three boats, (the AVilliam 
Baird, Gray Cloud and Arabia), having their cargoes 
and troops com|)!ete, made a final start foi- up river, 
and were soon out of sight of each (jtlier, with no in- 
tercourse or communicati(^n till Leavenworth was 
reached. Meanwhile the Clara and Kate 
Swinny had gone on up to Leavenworth in advance, 
and there taken on board the rest of the troops de- 
signed for the up-rivei- (excepting of course, those 
General Ilarnev was ori'anizino' for his land Indian ex- 
pedition). The Clara took on board the Brevt. Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel W. R. Alontgomery, Cajjtain Natlianiel 



136 REMINISCENCES F1U)M DLIUY 

Lyon, First Lieutenant Thomas Wright, and Com- 
panies B and C Second LiCantry, and the Kate 
Swinny took on board a detachment of recruits for 
the I'ejiiment, and Second Lieutenant R. F. Hunter. 

There were also on board of the five vessels named 
(distributed as circumstances required), Assistant Sur- 
o'eons Thomas C. Madison and David L. Magruder; 
Major A. AV. Gains, Paymaster; Captain M. D. L. 
Simpson, Commissary ; and Second Lieutenant G. 
K. Warren of the Top Engineers. All of the five 
steamers were fieighted and provisioned, manned and 
equipped for the long, tedious and, at that day, uncer- 
tain navigation of the tortuous antl deceptive Missouri 
river! The two Government steamers were diiected 
to keep as nearly in sight and communicating distance 
as practicable. So little was then known of the chan- 
nels of 'the river, and so numerous were the snags and 
sand-bars, that accidents were to be expected almost 
any day and iiour, while a inin at night was not often 
thought of, unless it was to I'earh a pcnnt where wood 
could bo cut and put on board by the deck hands. A 
pilot can soon learn the channels in the Ohio and Mis- 
sissippi I'ivers, but not so with the Missouri. Its baidcs 
and bottoms are a shifting mass of alluvial and recent 
deposit — sand and ijrave! — without adhesive properties 
and change ami shift with eveiy rise and full of the 
water. Its main tributaries and head waters being as far 
as two thousand miles northwest from Alton (its mouth) 
and fed b}' the spring melting of thousands of s(|uare 
miles of snow-fall, which generally averages several 
feet in depth, creates a flood of water which begins to 
flow in April, and about the last week in April or 
middle of May reaches Alton. This is called, by 



KEMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 137 

river men, the iirst or spring rise of the Missouri river, 
and lasts only about ten or twenty days, when it begins 
to fall rapidly and causes very great chanires in the chan- 
nels of the river. Where in the previous autumn the 
channel was well defined, and perhaps eight to sixteen 
feet deep, we may find, after the ''spring rise *' has run 
out a huge sand-bar of ten or a dozen inches only of water 
and a new, but tortuous and undefined channel cut in 
some other place, perhaps on the extreme opposite side 
of tlie river. These abrupt changes rendered it almost 
impossible for a pilot to "learn the Missouri river.'' 
as he could other rivers ; and the most he can do is to 
acquire a general idea of channels and currents from 
the glassv or other features of the water. This the 
vigihint and intelligent pilot will gradually learn, but 
not the generality of men who, from s(jme cause, get 
into the position of rivei' ])il()ts. At the time I write 
(1855) there was about one excellent and reliable liver 
pilot for ten who pretendeil to be such, and even if 
there iiad been ten good to one l)ad. the Government 
would certainly have hired the tenth bad one. There 
was then in St. Louis (as exists in some degree in nearly 
all river towns) a kind of man-worslii|) for a pilot, and 
this is not entirely without some reason — for a })ilot's 
position ant! I'esponsibility is very great, since many 
thousands of tlollars depend on his efficient work. 
Hence the verv hitfh wa^es he receives, altliouiih his 
woi'k IS not half so hard as even the man who stokes 
the fire— but it is of a higher order. Ten tlollars a day 
tor a reliable and comi^etent i)ilot is not out of the way 
if really an efficient man ; but to ])ay the scores 
of pretenders and frauds this amount, or even eight, 
six, or five tlollars a day, is the hugest swintUe and out- 
rage on the owners and patrons of river steamers. 



138 REMINISCENCES FJIOIM DIARY. 

However, as death ends all things and as the pilots 
and masters of the Wm. Baird and Gray Cloud have 
long since crossed over that river much deeper, wider 
and darker than the Missouri, we will not disturb their 
rest further than to say that they sought the hest 
paying positions with vei'v little care or consideration 
of their efficiencN', or, I'atlier, of their inefficiency. One 
of them, however, on the Gray Cloud, if watched close 
enough to be kept sober, was really a good, practical 
pilot and undei'stood his work; more than this could, 
not be recoi'ded in their favor. 

Ilowevei', leaving Leavenwoi'th. the "Wm. Baird and 
Gray Cloud kept measurably together as far as Coun- 
cil Bluffs, and we were able to procure wood ;ind coal 
fuel at man}' places on that stretch of the river. 
About St. Joseph (then a small mud hole of a river 
town) there appeared signs of cholera among the 
troops on one or two of the boats — on the Wm. Baird 
where 1 was, and a case or two on two other l)oats 
having the apj)earance of cholera. Although we had 
no doctor on this steamer yet we did the best we could 
with the boat's medicine, and had no deaths. We 
reached Council Bluffs in a few days and had so much 
sickness that we concluded it best to try and secure a 
doctor, if possible, to take passage with us for the rest 
of the trip. For this ]nirpose we landed, and I visited 
the three or four shanties then conijirising the embryo 
village of Omaha, and learned that a young ]ihysician 
and his bride had lately arrived there from Westei'n 
New York, and it was barely possible he might be in- 
duced to take passage as the surgeon of our boat. 1 
learned this man was Dr. George L. Miller and I lost 
no time in tindinir his little house and making known 



RE.MINISCENC?:S FROM DIAKY. 13!) 

to him my business. It was so sudden and novel in 
the way of service that he hesitated ; and especially 
was it a surprise to his young wife, thou<^li tliey iiad 
no others in their household, and I rat'ner urged the 
doctor to join us and bring iiis wife along. We had a 
very large floating palace with ample stateroom 
accommodations for more than a score of families, and 
Mrs. Miller was not long in seeing that she could have 
as nice a time on our boat as she could at Omaha, and 
in a few hours it was all arranged, and Dr. JMiller and 
his charming wife were on board, and we were on our 
course again, ploughing the muddy waters and sci'ap- 
ing the sand-bars. The change of water and mode 
of life of the soldiers tended to create more or less 
sickness among them, but very soon even this began to 
decrease, and, while all felt a more comfortable assur- 
ance of proper care and treatment in ease of sickness 
in that far-olT, lonesome river frontier, yet our doctor 
in fact had but little occasion to pi-eseribe his pills. 
Thus passed the days and nights of June, and a good 
part of Julv. Only by daylight could we attempt 
to run, and many times from 10 A. M. until sunset we 
had such high winds blowing that tliose immense 
floating palaces could not be steered, so we would " lay 
bv " as the\' called it, at some fav(jred place, and cut 
and carry wood on board. We were now far above 
all '* wood yards," and it was necessary to sup[)]y fuel 
fi'om day to day, from the wooded shores along tlie 
river. It was for this work that twenty-five deckhands 
and roustabouts had been ))laced on the rolls. It was 
no unusual thing to spend three or four hours cutting 
and piling on board fifteen or twenty cords of wood, 
and then start up, and strilce a sand-bar in a few hours' 



140 REMINISCENCES FllOM DIARY. 

run, and there pound away till we consumed the sup- 
ply before oettinii' over the bai*. The river was still 
i'allint^ slowly, with no prospect of any further I'ise 
<luring that summer (for we had now reached the last 
week in June) and were not far above the present site of 
Sioux City, still having the worst part of the river to 
traverse. We had all the appliiinces for " sparring " 
over sand-bars and shallow places, and on the Wm. 
Baird we had a competent crew of river men. at the 
head of whom was that ])rince of mates, William B. 
J3odson, of Cincinnati and lower Mississijipi I'iverfame. 
While sparring and pounding on the bar just above 
and opposite the mouth of what was called L'eau qui 
court (a French word, literally "the water which 
runs '") and latterly called the " Niobrara,"' I sent word 
to the Gray Cloud to drop down from her anchorage a 
mile above and -'give a line" to the Baiixl and thus 
help her over the bar. This displeased the chief ))ilot 
on the Gray Cloud and he refused to obey the order of 
his captain (Mr. Alford). I sent a yawl boat up to 
repeat the order, and then the captain had ins, assu^iant 
pilot drop his boat down as oi'dered, and I soon heard 
of the chief ))ilot's attitude in the matter of not obe\'- 
ing orders. This chief pilot was Mr. Montgomery 
Douglass, an excellent pilot but more cross, stubborn 
and self-willed than even tiie average ])ilot. As a class, 
the Western I'iver pilots can think of »oi/ihi(/ su])erior 
to themselves when on i^oard of his vessel with steam 
up. We finally got a line and help from the Gray 
Cloud and got over the bar, and both vessels landed to 
replenish fuel. While doing this I called Mr. Douglass 
on board and asked him the reason for his conduct, 
lie evidentiv had several drinks aboard, and he replied 



rp:miniscex(es from diary. ui 

that he did not '' ship" to fool along and helj) other 
"vessels o"' boats," and that he did not propose 
to do it ; so I oi'dered his time made up and a check or- 
order for it given him, on the chief quartermaster in 
St. Louis (the officer who had emploj'ed all the men on 
both steamers) and had him put on shore. He accepted 
the situation very quietl}^, and seemed to rather like 
his release from further service, not realizing just then 
the fact that on shore at that place he was one hundred 
miles from the nearest settlement, without road, 
compass or yawl boat I The place we were then at 
proved to be not the mainland, but a narrow wooded 
island, where we stopped the rest of the day and till 
the next morning, supplying wood. Mr. Douglass 
meanwhile blew off mucli of his bad whisky in walking- 
over the island, and after dark came on board to sleep 
off the rest, which, of course, no one objected to. 
Before starting with the steamers next morning, the 
master of his boat (Captain Alf'ord) went to him, and 
told him what a fool he had made of himself, and the 
captain added, that "this here trip ain't like we was 
on the Ohio or Mississippi rivers, in private boats, but 
here we are under the militar}^ and have the gol- 
darned soldiers to obey, and they are the bosses and 
not we," Douglass had cooled off, and soon took in 
the situation, and came at once to my liitle office on 
the AVilliam Baird, and wished to apologize for his 
conduct and to continue his work. This was all that 
was required, excepting that he would for the future 
obe\' the orders given him. He returned to his wheel 
and pilot house on the Gray Cloud and did his work 
well, and the good effects of the incident were visible 
on all emj)loyes on both boats. They all tumbled 



142 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

to the racket that militant orders hail to be obeyed by 
all who drew their pay and rations from Uncle Sam. 

The steamer Arabia meanwhile, had ])assed our 
(Tovernmeiit boats, and had reached some shallow bars 
further up the river where she pounded and s[)arred 
for houi's, and finally concluded to put off a large })art 
of her cargo at a suitable place on shore, cover it with 
duck paulins, leave a watchman with it, and take the rest 
of her freight and the troops she had up to Fort Pierre, 
there discharge them, and return for the balance of her 
load. This they called "double tripping," and it often 
saved time though it made labor for the deck hands to 
unload and re load so much freight. This extra labor, 
however, was never an objection, in the work of steam- 
boating, for if there existed, on land or water, in those 
days, a vhenper animal or inanimate article than a deck 
hand or a roustabout, 1 nev^er discovered what it was. 
At a much later day, however, when building railways 
became a mania, it was discovered, I believe, that the 
average railroad laborer was even cheaper than those 
deck hands on steamers. During the colossal combi- 
nations, rings, steals and rascalities of building the 
Pacific railroad it was discovered that one railroad tie 
was worth three railroad laborers. Whether the rela- 
tive prices have changed since those ties were watered 
two or three hundred per cent I have never learned. 

The other vessels kept pounding and sparring over 
sand-bars, and made the best speed they could. One of 
the worst places we encountered was the bar at the mouth 
of AVhite Earth I'iver, where the formation is of clay 
and extends entirely across the Missouri river, and 
being of clay bed, no amount of scratching and ploughing 
the bottom enabled the current to wash out a channel 



REMINISCENCES FIIO.AI DIARY. 143 

as Wcis nearly always possible where it was merely a 
sand formation. Getting ovei" this, however, we had 
little difficulty till we reached what is known as 
the ''13ig Bend '^ where snags, low water and bars 
caused g-reat delay and much hard work. The " lii"' 
Bend'' is an abrupt double curve in the river, some- 
what in the shape of the letter kS, where a ten or fifteen 
mile run up the river brings you to within five or six 
niiltjS of where you started (measuring across bv land). 
We had learned patience, however, and as our tedious 
trip was drawing to a close we were the more content 
to work and wait, and by })ersevei'ance we finally 
arrived at the barren plain of Fort Pieire on July 13, 
1S55 (all hands in reasonably good health), with both 
the Government steamers. The Arabia had reached 
Fort Pierre with her part load and had gone back for 
the remainder. In a few days more she returned and 
discharged the freight and troops destined for that point 
and re-adjusied her remaining freight (belonging to the 
Fur Company and the Indian agent), and continued her 
trip up river to still higher points. She had on board 
the Indian agent, a Mr. Vaughn, a mild-mannered kind 
of a man, differing in no particular from the usual class 
of ))olitical workers who (in those days and since) 
received their pay in this kind of ap])ointments, in 
whicii the salary cut but a small figure in the greater 
remuneration which came from .^eUhuj to the Indians 
their annuities for furs and robes, instead of honestly 
delivering the same as a gift from, and in the name of 
the Governor '. It can not be out of place jUst here to 
express (in parenthesis, as it were) the indubitable fact, 
that in no feature of our Government, during its whole 
existence, has it more forfeited its just claim to honesty. 



144 REMINISCENCES FROxM DIARY. 

either in practice or intention, than by its systematic 
course of fraud and deception toward all the Indian 
tribes witliin its power. 

Our first sight of the old Fort Pierre ])lace was 
quite the reverse of flattering, and grew less so the 
more we contemj^lated the locality. It was a wither- 
[ws iiot spell of weather, with a bi'io-ht chizzlino- smi 
shining all over the ban-en plateau, while the senii- 
silicious soil reflected back tlie sun's rays into one's 
face and eyes with an intensity almost painful. Xeither 
tree, nor brush, nor shrub, nor grass greeted one's most 
searchino; o-aze over the seething waste ! Such is the 
record in my journal of that date, 1855-G. Since then 
a pretentious, if not a flourishing town has sprung up 
in that local it}' and some critic may think I should 
change my record or retract, but, I can do neither,^ 
because it is the influence of the railroads, and tiie 
necessity of crossing the Missouri river at that 
geographical point which has forced the existence of 
some sort of a town. It is notorious that raili'oads. 
create towns and villages in all sorts of places, where, 
otherwise, no such would ever be thought of. Api'opos 
of my reasoning, I will recite what a popular preacher 
once said while traveling on the Union Paciflc road, 
just then completed to Utah. He was admiring the 
sage brush through the car windows and taking a close 
look at the stations and embryo towns and villages 
bursting into view. One of his traveling friends 
asked him what he thought of some of the places they 
had passed as suited to become towns. The divine 
looked solemn for an instant and replied : '' Well, my 
oj)inion as to town sites is not worth half that of rail- 
road builders, but, sir, I am almost willing to believe 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 145 

that when railroad builders reach his Satanic majesty's 
regions they will find it profitable to locate towns and 
cities in all parts of Pluto's inheritance.''' Such being 
a preacher's opinion, I think is confirmatory of my own 
theory as to the town of Pierre. 

During all of our thirty or forty days travel up the 
river we had indulged the ]ileasing expectation that we 
would find shelter or reasonably comfortable quarters 
at Fort Pierre, as all understood that the Government 
had purchased the place, although not an officer or 
soldier had any definite knowledge or ordei's in the 
matter. As before stated, Major Ogden had carried 
ofi' in his pocket to his new post of Fort Riley in Kan- 
sas, the written contract of purchase, matle by the 
Quartermaster General with the Fur Companv, so that 
every one, from commanding officer to lowest private, 
had arrived at the post which they were to occupy, 
with no knowledge or instruction whatever on the 
subject. The Fur Company's agent, Mr. Charles E. 
Galpin, however, was there waiting and ready to turn 
over the premises, and get a receipt, as per contract, 
and he also had a duplicate co])v of the contract and 
furnished it for examination. The old "Fort" or "Fort 
Pierre" was the Fur Company's main, or princii)al trad- 
ing station with the numerous tribes of Indians in that 
distant frontier for more than forty years, but had now 
become useless for that, or any other purpose, and 
was being abandoned as rapidh^ as the company could 
remove its men and tools to other places. It con- 
sisted of an inclosure of 200 feet square, with pickets 
placed vertically in the ground, and extending almost 
twelve feet above ground, with a large, strong gate^ 
and this gave sufficient protection to the traders and 

10 



146 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

their men in case of hostile intent on the part of the 
Indians, many hundreds of whom were all the while 
camped on the ])rairieand the premises. On the inside 
of this inclosLire, and ranged round near to the pickets, 
were a half dozen shanties ten feet high, covered with 
mud roofs and a dirt floor, called storehouses, having 
in the aggregate, about four thousand square feet of 
storage or about -10,000 cubic feet. This comprised all 
the buildings at the place, and, of course, our ideas of 
quarters vanished as but a very brief dream at the 
best. These huts scarcely served to cover our two boat- 
loads of supplies, and we had to pitch tents on the dry, 
scorciied plain for immediate shelter. We were in the 
middle of July, the heated period of all the year in that 
part of the country, and we kept as cool as we could 
lookino- at the thermometer register 108^ in the shade. 
It may not be out of place here to remark a fact 
which hundreds of thousands of people have since 
learned by experience, that while the region of country 
I write about can boast of more terrific blizzards and 
colder weather in midwinter than almost any other 
])ortion of the Union, yet it can also claim the prize for 
hotter July days than Texas ! This arid, grassless, 
timberless plain at Fort Pierre sloped back westward 
from the river, a distance of more than a mile, to the 
foot-hills, and extended north over two miles to where 
ii bend of the river approaches the foot-hills, and south 
a couple of miles to the little tributary called then the 
^'Little Missouri River," but properly called "Bad 
Eiver," which it was in ewery sense of the word. It was 
a narrow (not over 100 feet wide) sluggish stream, diffi- 
cult to cross because of its mud bottom and high banks, 
while alono' its maro:in were the remnants of a former 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 147 

growth of timber, reduced to little else than under- 
brush, having been shorn of everything which would 
make fuel for the trading post or material for its pickets 
and little huts. It was also a favorite camping ground 
for the various squads of Indians who constantly visited 
the trading post, and they had utilized for fuel even the 
smaller growth. It was a rare thing for the soldiers to 
get even a few armfuls of sticks as large as one's arm 
to cook food with, making it impossible to get an ade- 
quate supply of fuel on that side of the Missouri for 
winter. Nor was there any better supply of fuel on 
the opposite side of the Missouri river, which was at 
that point over half a mile wide, and too shallow on 
the east side for even a small boat to get within a hun- 
dred feet of the bank, but up the river on the east side 
at a distance of three or four miles there was a good 
forest of Cottonwood growth. The first question to 
solve was how to get that wood. The steamers could 
not be used, for they drew too much water, and the 
wood was 3'et to be cut, the river falling, and no time 
to be lost in sending the steamers back down the river 
to St. Louis. Yawl boats belonging to the steamers, 
which we decided to retain, would serve our purpose 
for a time, till we could make some sort of scow or 
flat-boat with only a few inches draft. Meanwhile 
Captain and Brevet-Major Wessels had, on his own re- 
sponsibility, taken possession of one of the smaller huts 
as his personal quarters, which the Fur Company's agent 
was inclined to construe as taking possession of the 
premises, and thereby tacitly accepting the same under 
the contract ; but I denied that Wessels' action had 
anj' such force, and the agent then exhibited his copy 
of the contract of purchase, and requested me to offi- 



148 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

ciall y '■ inspect and receive tlie property '' as per word- 
ing of the instrument. For llie first time I then learned 
the price to be paid by the War Department for that 
miserable, desolate piece of public j^rairie, or the few 
shanties, was $45,000. Every officer in the command 
read over the copy of contract with amazement, 
largely mixed with disgust, and without consultation 
or concert of thought, not one of them would have 
valued everything at the place worth forty-five hun- 
dred dollars. I proceeded to unloail the steamers and 
erect the cottages on the plateau, stored the supplies 
and propei'ty wherever I could, insitleand outside of the 
picketed space, but declined to receive, oi* receipt for 
the premises. 1 scoured the surrounding country for 
grass, wood and stone, and began to wi'ite my rejiort 
of the trip and arrival, the character of the place, its 
resources and adaptability for wintering the troops at 
it, or rather its lack of all these conditions. T con- 
demned it in every particular for these purposes. Mean- 
while some 600 head of beef cattle had arrived on the 
opposite side of the river, having been purchased in 
Missouri and Kansas, and driven all the wa}^ up on 
land, by contract made by the commissary general, or 
his assistant, and Captain Simpson, C. S., was there 
to receive, inspect and give receipts for the same. 
These cattle, of course, were to be cared for, and killed 
as the wants of the troops required, vot by the con- 
tractor but by some detail from the command, under 
an officer — not even Captain Simpson, for he was only 
on the trip to see and receive the cattle at the post, 
and turn them over to some subaltern destined to re- 
main there, when he (Simpson) would turn his head 
toward Washington. These cattle had to be placed on 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 149 

grazino- gt'ound, somewliere, with proper herders, and 
a squad of soldiers to ijrotect them; also, hay had to 
be cut from the wild prairie grass and stacked up for 
winter use for the cattle and all other animals re- 
quired to be kept, requiring- not less than 200 tons of 
hav. 

Fuel had to be })rovided for the troojis, rangini^ 
anywhere from six to ten companies, for General 
Harney's command had been ordered to reach Fort 
Pierre late in the autumn, and winter there. This re- 
quired more than fifty cords of wood per month, or to 
May, 1850. at least 350 cords of wood. Taken all in 
all, it was a serious matter for those charged with the 
execution of this work as to how it was to be accom- 
plished, and I was the one mainly depended on to do 
it. Colonel Montgomery, the ranking officer, felt Jittle 
interest in the matter, because he had already been 
cited before a general court martial, to be held at Fort 
Riley, Kansas, to be tried for some complicity in spec- 
ulative transactions in land at that point, and he would 
soon start down the river, not to return that year, and 
perhaps never, while Captain Lyon would accompany 
him as a witness in his case. Captain Sim])son, the 
commissary, also felt quite free from responsibility of 
wintering his 600 beef cattle, and Brevet-Major Wes- 
sells, the next in command, who was to remain there, 
was captain of his company, a very excellent, honor- 
able man, pleasant in all his social and official relations, 
but without much energy or force of character in the 
line of creatino- somethino- out of nothing or of mak- 
ingends meet where great difficulties existed, or, as the 
old darkey said, " when ])ofe ends is too sho't.'' The 
rest of the officers were lieutenants, without much ex- 



150 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

perience, and less energy or resolution, but mainly 
devoted to such quiet ease and comfort as they could 
get in their tents, I'eading and smoking their pipes. 
It is not surprising, therefore, that the writer, being- 
the only officer of the general staff, and especially de- 
pended upon for all necessar}^ supplies and prepara- 
tions for wintering such a command, should feel his 
responsibility with much intensity. As the dog-days 
of August were passing I explored the prairies for the 
best grass plats, selecting grazing-grounds for cattle; 
established camps for the guard, put a score of men 
to cutting grass (for winter hay) with the scythes we 
had taken with us ; another score of men to chopping 
wood, five or six miles above the post and on the op- 
posite side of the river; and such mechanics as 1 could 
find in the command I put to work to cut out cotton- 
wood boards with the whip-saw, and built a scow or 
flat boat. This done, we could cross and re-cross the 
river, and also transport fuel, stores, etc., from place to 
place by poling and the cordelle. Meanwhile I com- 
pleted and forwarded my report to the (piai'ter- 
master general at Washinofton. The assistant com- 
missary (Simpson) had also forwarded his report to 
hiscidef (tiie commissary-general) some weeks previous, 
and our reports differed considerably as to the ciiarac- 
terof the locality and the means and the practicability 
of wintering troops and animals at that place. Human 
nature is much the same the world over. Relieve one of 
real and pressing responsibilities, and the affairs of daily 
life present to his mind different pictures from those pre- 
sented to the person who fills the place of all re?;ponsi- 
bility. The quartermaster's dei)artment in the United 
States Armv has alwavs been, since its organization. 



REMINISCENCES FROxAI DIARY. 151 

par excellence the pack-horse of the army. Its duties 
are not only multifarious, but eternal, perennial, and 
increasing with time ! It is the department which has 
to clothe and house, transport and warm the arm}^ 
provide for the sick and bur}* the dead. In fact, the 
quartermaster's department is the ii^iet nurse of the 
army, all other branches being- but nominal, and in 
fact little more tlian sinecure adjuncts of the former. 
Fully realizing tliis fact, I felt, at the outset, tlie great 
difficulty of supplying forage, fuel and shelter for 
eight or ten companies, and a score officers, at such a 
barren and isolated place ; and naturally so expressed 
myself in m}^ report to the department. Not so with 
the commissary. He had viewed the half-green but 
stunted grasses on the \vi(le-s))read prairies during dog- 
daN's in the light of grazing for cattle, in the months 
favorable for grazing, but failed to realize the condition 
of things in mid-winter, when three feet of snow 
woule cover those half-green ])rairies. He failed to 
realize that a temperature of ten or twenty below 
zero would soon succeed the ninety degrees above, as 
then existed. He felt light-hearted under the inspir- 
ation of his speedy departure for civilization and God's 
country. Our separate reports, therefore, presented 
to our respective chiefs at Washington quite different 
phases of the same locality ; and long after he had 
left I was the one to receive from the War Office a 
critical analysis of the two reports, with a pressing re- 
quest from the quartermaster-general to explain why 
such different views should be entertained by two 
officers on the same oround. I was not in a hurrv to 
answer his inquiries; in fact, I was not in a mood to do 
so, but busied myself at the work so necessary, to do 



152 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

the best I could for the coining winter, and for the ap: 
proaching troops under General Harne3\ Finally, 
near the last of October, Harney arrived, with his 
dragoons and infantry. He had spent the summer on 
the plains, from Leaven wortli uj) the Platte, via 
Kearney, to Fort Laramie (fighting Little Thunder at 
Blue Lake), thence across the plains some 250 miles to 
Fort Pierre (as had been arranged), to pass the winter. 
His command was tired, and in need of rest, and, of all 
other temporal comforts, clothes and quarters, and lit- 
tle of the kind did he find at Fort Pierre. About all 
we had for his command was provisions. The cloth- 
ing designed for his ti'oops had been started from 
St. Louis on a later boat, ami it had only been able to 
reach a place called Puncas Island, some 200 miles by 
land below Fort Pierre, and nearly 400 miles by water; 
the same boat also had the forage designed for his 
horses. To say that Gent^i'al Harney was mad fails 
to express his true condition of mind. He devoted a 
few days to looking over the ground, read the office 
copy of my report, and the quai'termaster-gen- 
eral's rei)ly thereto: then read over the contract of 
the purchase, and learned from me that I had not re- 
ceived the jyroperty, and, after relieving himself of some 
of the pent-up indignation, he ordered a Board of Sur- 
vey, consisting of Major A. Cady, Major Van Vliett 
and Surgeon Madison, to examine the whole premises, 
make a map of the same, and to report its probable 
value. In a few days this was done, and it was even 
more (lisi)ar;iging to the ])urchase price and the place 
than my repoi-t had been. It was then forwarded by 
mide express to Sioux City po>t-ottice, then the nearest 
office where mails were delivered, sav 2S0 miles, hav- 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 153 

ing IJarney's sulphurous remarks of approval thereon. 
It was too late in the autumn, however, to hope for 
forage and clothing to arrive, and Harney determined 
to put his dragoons on the march again, to where the 
boat was which contained these supj)lies, and they 
started out in a snow-sLorm to make the march — early 
in Kovember — which was accomplished with much dif- 
ticulty, and loss of animals by the way, with hunger 
and cold. This so relieved the wants at Fort Pierre 
that we managed to put in the winter without any se- 
vere suffering, though certainh^ without luxuries, or 
any great degree of comfort. 

Soon after Harney's report, and the proceedings of 
the Board had been digested at Washington, I received 
very different letters from good old General Jesup 
(the quartermaster general). He regretted the de- 
partment had been so over-reached in the purchase of 
that post, and closed by hoping I would meet the 
agent of the Fur Company and agree on such terms as 
would enable the department to close the whole 
*' unpalatable "' matter, etc. This, of course, was 
throwing the entire responsibility on me (although I 
•cared very little about that) and the agent and I 
finally met and spent some days going over the whole 
matter. This agent, Mr. Charles E. Galpin, was a 
pleasant and intelligent man, was a good bookkeeper 
and ready accountant. He had been with the Fur 
Oompany for many years (coming originally from New 
York City) and he had managed all the company's 
affairs on the Upper Missouri river for a number of 
years with skill and success. He knew, as well as I 
<lid, that the old Fort Pierre purch.ise was not worth 
five thousand dollars, much less the fortv-five thousand 



154 reminiscencj:s from diary. 

stipulated in the contract; but such was the contract 
j)rice of purchase, and of course he very properly 
claimed the " amount of the bond," such was his duty 
to his principals. But I was under no obligations to- 
certify to anything but what I believed to be correct^ 
and so we were hopelessly apart as to any settlement. 
Some weeks passed (Galpin having moved his h'lif or 
'■^ tejx'e,''^ with his Indian wife and children, a few miles 
up the river), and finally he came and dined with me 
and we resumed the conversation as to a settlement. 
He offered to fall five thousand dollars, that is, to take 
forty thousand dollars if I would certify to forty 
thousand. I gave no intimation of agreeing to this^ 
and he then said that if I would sign the required 
receipts and certificates at forty thousand dollars, he 
would pay me personally one thousand dollars for my 
official act of acceptance. Of course, the moral turpitude 
of this offer Mr. Galpin did not for one moment, real- 
ize, or even suspect. On the contrary he believed his 
offer to be an honest business proposition! What con- 
vincing evidence this is that men are to a great extent 
just what their surroundings make them. Mr. Galpin 
had lived long among the Indians, and had become 
conversant with their modes of traffic, bribery and 
sharp trading, while the few white men he occasionally 
met, were government Indian agents engaged in the 
same and far worse methods, with the Indians and 
witii each other. These agents were commissioned by 
the president to go to the various tribes of Indians- 
and deliver to them the annual supplies provided by 
Congress as presents, annuities, etc., but who in fact, in 
many cases, if not in the majority of cases, sold the 
goods for ten times their value in robes, ]ielts and furs. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 155 

which they ulthnately shipped to St. Louis or New 
York and sold for their personal benefit. Therefore 
Mr. Galpin could not well conceive that any other 
government officer had any other rules of action, or 
scruples of honesty, than the generality' of agents he 
had been accustomed to meet in business at those dis- 
tant trading posts. Such has been the demoralizing 
influences, among whites and Indians, in the mannge- 
ment of our Indian affairs for a centm^v. But why 
decry the frontier agents, when the chiefs of depart- 
ments at Washington City are, and always have been, 
as batl or worse ( 

While I knew perfectly that Galpin's offer to me of 
the money was sincere, and he felt sure he would be 
accepted, yet I treated it moi'e as a joke than otiier- 
wise, and suppressing my inward indignation offered 
him a cigar, and in a good-humored way remarked 
that he and I could never come to a settlement in any 
sucli manner, and that we iuid best so report our 
action, and refer the settlement back to the contract- 
ing parties at Washington. This was done and I have 
never known to this day just what was finally ])aid 
for " Old Fort Pierre." But I doubt if it was much less 
than the original price agreed on. In fact, in the light 
of later events, I have no doubt bur what the price — 
forty-five thousand dollars — was all paid, and that the 
pretense to '^ inspection report," etc., was merely an 
assumed virtue to cover motives and matured inten- 
tions of officials and parties in interest in St. Louis and 
Washington City. 

Meantime, cold weather was approaching. General 
Harney determined to spend the winter there witli one 
officer of his staff (Captain Alfred Pleasanton) and I 



156 remini8cencp:s from diary. 

reiiioved the ])ublic stores from one of the slianties and 
fixed it up to give him two small rooms, one as a bed- 
room, tiie other for his office. His Assistant Adjutant 
Genei'al Major Wood, and his Assistant Quartermaster 
Captain Van Vliet, had left to return to St. Louis. The 
want of forage and the bleak and barren nature of the 
surrounding prairies determined llarney to send all 
the dragoon troops and horses to more favorable 
points some two hundred miles lower down on the 
river. Some went to old P'ort Lookout, near the 
Big l>end, and othei's still lower to a place then 
known as *' Puncas Island,"' a j)lace a little above the 
Niol)rara or L'eau (|ui court river, where shelter in the 
wooded bottoms for the animals in storms could be had 
<ind also grass on the slopes and in the ravines. Be- 
sides, the last steamer (Gray Cloud) which had been 
started from St. Louis late in the fall as befoi'e stated, 
loaded with corn, clothing and other supplies, had 
been forced by low water and ice, to stop at Puncas 
Island and remain for the winter; and the animals 
could thus get the forage required from the boat. Tlie 
march of the troops from Port Pierre to that lower 
station so late in the season, say two hundred miles 
over bleak jirairies, was a severe undertaking, espec- 
ially with animals reduced by a summer campaign, and 
very little grass on the route, and no other forage to 
carry in the wagons. When Major Howe started on 
this trip (in November), nearly five inches of snow^ lay 
on the ground in many places, and it was scarcely pos- 
sible to make the march without loss of animals; and, 
as it turned out, more than had been anticipated died, 
or were abandoned by the wayside. Major Howe did 
reach his destined place, however, and made his men 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 157 

and animals as comfortable as possible in the wooded 
river bottom, not far from the steamer, from whose 
cargo of provisions, clothing and grain forage were 
obtained. Howe did not report very minutely, nor 
very promptly iiis loss of animals on his trip, in fact 
not at all till late in the winter, and Harney, who 
always had a supreme contempt for Major Howe, both 
as an officer and as a man, suspected all through Jan- 
uary, 1856, that greater loss had occurred than Howe 
had reported. Finally the General determined, in Feb- 
ruary, to fit out a small escort and proceed over the 
same route to see for himself the signs of loss, and to 
learn the character of the countr3\ With Captain 
Pleasanton, his aid, and an escort of a dozen men and 
a couple of teams and his ambulance, he set out on the 
same trail Major Howe had taken the previous Novem- 
ber. Every day's march added proof to Harney's sus- 
picion that Howe had lost more animals on his trip 
than he had reported, and b}"^ the time he reached 
Howe's winter camp and the steamer, Harney was 
*' red hot," so to speak, and with his ungovernable Irish 
temper, ordered his aid to formulate charges against 
Howe, for the violation of not ten, but a score of com- 
mandments. Having done this and secured the neces- 
sary proof, as he supposed, he and his escort started on 
return to Fort Pierre, by way of the river, on ice. Up 
to this time the ice was pretty safe, as the cold winter 
had made it of unusual thickness, and for many days 
Harney with his party traveled up river with their 
wagons and animals on a very fine road. But, later 
on, in March, it began to thaw rapidly, and the ice 
became too rotten for safety, which forced the party 
-to leave the river for land. Bv the time Harnev had 



158 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

returned to Fort Pierre, the several chiefs of Indian 
tribes began to assemble there, as per Harney's circu- 
hir order sent out in the winter, asking all Indian 
chiefs and others to come in to Fort Pierre and have a 
long talk, looking to some treaty agreement for a more 
peaceful condition of things than had previouly existed. 
Harney's summer expedition had i-esulted in his whip- 
ping Little Tlumder and his tribe near Ash Hollow, 
or '' Blue Lake" (in the vicinity of the North Platte, 
some days' march below Fort Laramie) and the cap- 
ture of a large number of squaws, papooses, tents, 
poneys, etc., all of which Harney had brought with 
him to Fort Pierre the previous fall, and held the 
women and children as hostages, to compel the Indian 
warriors to come in and talk peace, at least. 

CHAPTER Vll. 



I am ahead of some of the events, however, which 
I wish to narrate, so I shall go back some months. 
AVhen the steamers loaded at St. Louis in Ma\', a sutler 
or post trader was appointed for the new contemplated 
post of Fort Pierre; this gentleman was Mr. Edward 
Atkinson, and he had associated with him Capt. D. M. 
Frost, a former officer of the army, but then a retired 
business citizen of St. Louis. Atkinson had a frame 
storehouse about 45x20 feet, one story, made in St. 
Louis, also a small dwelling with two stories for his 
family, consisting of wife and infant son. These he 
had shipped on the steamer with his suppiv of goods 
and merchandise, to Fort Pierre, and after landing 
there, a few days sufficed for him to have his store 
opened for business and also his family snugly in 






o 



?5 



o 



o 




REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 159 

quarters ; he took with him from St. Louis compe- 
tent men to do this work, as also a competent clerk 
iind bookkeeper. 

Meanwhile bv the last of October, I had arrano-ed 
the best I could for the officers and soldiers' comfort 
for the winter. The last steamer to leave St. Louis 
was the wide, flat-bottomed steamer called the St. Mary, 
built hy, or especially for, the American Fur Company's 
service on the Missouri river. She was made to run 
in shallow water, yet carry a good freight, vras low 
hamper and easily managed ; and the chief quarter- 
master in St. Louis fixed on her as a boat more likely 
than any other to reach. Fort Pierre so late in the fall, 
when it was certain only low water could be expected 
everywhere. Accordingl}^ the St. Mary left St. 
Louis in September, with the outfit and small machinery 
of a steam ;>aw-mill, several thousand bushels of corn 
potatoes, clothing, some thirty head of mules and other 
supplies. 

Of her departure, or even intended departure, how- 
ever, I had never one word of information, althouoh we 
had an express mail carried on a mule every two weeks, 
from the Sioux City post-office (which was only four 
days by mail from St. Louis). This neglect or failure 
to send me the important information that a steamer 
had started with important supplies on such a long and 
hazardous trip was strange, to say the least; but it was 
quite in keeping with every other move at St. Louis 
and Washington connected with the up-river expedi- 
tion of 1855. -; 

I had left my wife and babe in Chicago, there to 
remain until perhaps in the following spring or sum- 
mer, she could join me. She, hearing, however, from 



1(50 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

St. Louis, that the St. Mary would leave for Pierre^ 
determined to take passage on her, and hastdy packing 
only necessary things, with, her nurse and infant, 
took cars for St. Louis and boarded the steamer, deter- 
mined to take the chances of reaching Fort Pierre 
somehow. 

The steamer's trip up river was slow and monoto- 
nous, and after reaching points above Sioux City, very 
difficult. An old and experienced river captain (La 
Barge) was the master of vessel, and his brother was the 
pilot. They belonged to ihe best and most practical 
river men of St. Louis. They were kind and polite in the 
extreme to my wife, and during their long sixty days' 
woi'king up river, made her as comfortable as it was 
possible for her to be on tiie steamer. They had a 
milch-cow on board, which even supplied a luxury for 
the babe. 

The steamer thus worked her way over sand-bai'S, and 
through forests of snags till she reached a point a few 
miles below the mouth of White river, late in October. 
Captain La Barge then believed it doubtful whether or 
not he could reach Pierre that winter ; he concluded to 
land all the mules, and place them in charge of a couple 
of his best men, with an Indian guide he had on board, 
and start them overland to report to me at Pierre, 
distant by land from where his boat was, he supposed 
to be, about one hundred miles. He wrote a letter for 
me, and gave it to the man in charge, explaining all 
about his position, loading, etc., and what he should try 
to do, and requested, in reply, my views and orders in 
the matter. With this letter and iive days' provisions 
the cavalcade set out over the trackless and rolling prai- 
ries, for Fort Pierre, but— distant from the position of 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 161 

the boat about one hundred and sixty miles. Finally, on 
Saturday night, November 3d, just after I had gone 
to bed, I was roused by a knock at my shanty. The 
men and mules had arrived and in pretty bad plight, 
too. They were not certainly men of more than 
average intelligence, and hardly that. They could 
give me very little information that was satisfactory, 
and it was not till I asked them if they had no written 
instructions, that the head man roused from his idiotic 
stupor, and said : " No, we started with a letter, but a 
violent norther or wmd-storm struck us on the high 
prairie, and the letter being in my hat, it was blown 
away, hat and all." He could recollect nothing scarcely 
that Captain La Barge had told him, as that letter 
contained everything. I found them a place to sleep, 
and had their mules cared for, and turned into my own 
bed, not to sleep, however ; for they had told me my 
wife and child were on the steamer, and it so surprised 
me I spent the night in revolving in my mind the best 
mode of reaching them, or the steamer. 

The man in charge of mules said he was sure Capt. 
La Barge was working along up the river with his boat, 
and was liable to " heave in sight at any hour," etc. 
This information or opinion, rather, of the weak-minded 
(mule) driver made it expedient for me to go by water 
down the river, if I expected to meet the steamer. 
Without sleeping any, 1 was up before the sun, Sunday 
morning, to find it lowering and cold, and a very cold 
north wind blowing. I soon had one of the yawl-boats 
ready, and called on the adjutant. Lieutenant K. H 
McLean, to detail me two of the best sailors in the com- 
mand, and by the time other portions of the garrison 
were at breakfast, I was pulling away down the river. 



162 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

From the best information (so far as I could judge b}' 
the man's report, as to the instructions of Captain La 
Barge), I had no doubt of meeting him and his boat 
before darlc tliat Sunday ; and therefore the two men 
had taken only a loaf of bread and a mouthful of cold, 
sliced pork. I had literally nothing but three or four 
hard tack crackers and my ])istol,abox of matches, and 
a hatchet. We pulled away down stream linall}', till 
about two P. ]\[., b}' which time the wind was nearly 
directly up the stream, and was so intense that the 
two men actually made no headway against it, down 
stream. We therefore landed for a time, and made a 
fire and waited a cessation of the wind ; this came with 
the setting sun, and still feeling sure we would soon 
meet the steamer, we resumed our rowing down the 
river. We had no moon and could see but little, and 
finallv^ discovered we had been rowing for a mile or 
more into a sand-bar "-pocket," which is merely an arm 
or narrow strip of water, standing stagnant, as it were, 
and not connected at its lower end with the main run- 
ning channel, but, in fact, cut off from that by a long 
sand-bar. So we were abruptly brought to astandstill 
by dry sand. It was too dark to see much, and we 
concluded to step to the main shore, buidd a fire, and 
keep warm till morning. As soon as light enough to 
see, we discovered our " trap,'' and we had our choice 
either to run our yawl a mile back, and there take the 
true channel, or drag it over a half-mile of sand-bar to 
a point in the true channel lower down. We chose the 
first, and by sunrise we were moving at a rapid rate 
down stream, and continued, I think, at the rate of six 
to eight miles an hour, till near noon, when we were in 
a bend of the river, with a high elevation of the shore. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 163 

from the top of which I inferred we ou^lit to be able 
to see a steamer many miles below, or at least to see 
her smoke, if she were running. I therefore landed 
and climbed the elevation, a higii bluff or butte on the 
praitie, and scanned thecountr\^ below. I could see the 
windings of the Missouri river for miles like a huge 
snake, yet no signs of steamer. I was disgusted, 1 
might say greatly disappointed. I had then descended 
the river for about one hundred miles, without the least 
sign of the steamer, which, according to my best infor- 
mation, was only two hundred miles seven days before! 
This reflection made me feel a little uneasy. I could not 
retrace my course in double the time I had been comino- 
down; we had nothing to eat. Could it be possible 
Captain La Barge had written to me, that he sent the 
mules overland, and would store the freight on shore 
for the winter, and hasten hack with his boat to St. 
Louis before "low water cut him off" or, had he just 
concluded to returndown river with wife, baby, freio-ht 
and all ?" 

All these possibilities passed through mv mind 
rapidly, though I never uttered a word to the two 
soldiers, who rowed the boat ; still, they were old 
sailors, who saw that my mind was not at ease, and 
they soon showed signs of uneasiness or anxiety them- 
selves. \\ e pushed on, however, as rapidly as we 
could all that afternoon till too dark to seethe channel, 
yet not a sound or glimpse of any steamer; so we once 
more took refuge in a brushy little spot on shore, made 
a rousing lire, and enjoyed the last crumbs of bread 
and crackers ! This was our second night out, and the 
next morning at six made us forty-eight hours out! 
The night thus passed was not devoid of danger and 



164 REMINISCENCES FR03I DIARY. 

apprehension, for we were now in the patli of bands of 
unfriendly Indians who, at that season of the year, 
were in search of buffalo and other game for winter's 
use, and our onl}^ weapon was my Colt's revolver. 
Early day-dawn, however, found us again pulling away 
down the river, which we kept up till noon. It was 
then I noticed in the faces of the two men evidences of 
anxiety which I had for some time felt myself, but 
which it would not be prudent for me to admit. About 
noon I told them to '* ease oars" and let us float with 
the current for a while, view the variegated colors of 
the foliaoe alono- the banks of the river and talk over 
our situation. We were now about two hundred miles 
measured by the meanderings of the river without 
meeting any signs of the steamer ! We had no ]irovis- 
ions, were unable to retrace our course, and must look 
forward to at least two hundred or two hundred and 
fifty miles more to reach the first habitation. This, of 
course, was my retiection in case the steamer had 
turned her course down the river, and for food 
meanwhile we had none, and must rely on l)erries, 
grapes, etc., to be found along the i-ivei' banks. 

I talked all this over with the two men in a cheerful 
manner, ratlier jocosely, in fact, to see how they felt. 
They listened to me with the serious air by no means 
reassuring; and kept their gaze fixed on objects far 
down the river. Finally I broke silei.ce by asking them 
how much they would bet me that we would not see the 
steamer before sundown that day. They hesitated a 
few moments and offered to bet me twenty-five dollars ; 
thenafter a quarter of an hour they withdrew it, still 
showing looks of the greatest anxiety. Finally said I : 
" Men, you may bet me either way, antl I will take the 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 165 

opposite." They eased oars a^ain and gazed at the 
shore and down the river, and from some cause, I know 
not why, they said : " Well, Ca|)tain, we will bet you 
twent_y-five that we will see the boat before dark." "All 
right," said I, "I take the side that we will w^-^^. So 
j)ull away, and let us get as far as we can before dark, 
anyway." On we sped lively, and in less tiian an hour 
we saw the mouth of White river, just below which the 
river makes a short turn (ahiiost at right angles), but 
still three miles from us. 

Just then, as I sat steering, looking ahead, I descried 
in the long distance, where the turn in the river began, 
some white object on shore, not larger, apparently than 
a bushel measure. I kej^t my ej^es so intently in that 
direction that the men who sat facing me observed 
it and ceased rowing to take a look themselves. I 
asked them if tiiey could see any white object, but 
they said no, and resumed their oars. After some 
minutes I told them to look again, which they did, and 
both saw "something." Meanwhile I had watched the 
object grow in size till it was as large as a common 
tent ; and soon I distinctly saw a moving object going 
from the white tent-like pile towards the edge of the 
water (apparently thirty paces distant from it) and then 
return to the white object. I told the men to cease 
rowing and to take a good look at it, which they did, 
and soon exclaimed : " Yes, it is somebody." The 
current carried us rapidly down the river and I turned 
the yawl towards the object, on the south or Nebraska 
side of the river ; and it was not long until we discov- 
ered it to be a large pile of freight covered over with a 
white heavy duck-paulin. We were at once relieved 
in mind, and steered directly for the freight pile, but 



166 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

in doing this we passed the sharp turn in the river, 
some two hundred yards, before we reached the 
object, and turning our gaze to the left and looking 
down the stretch of river on its new course, a few miles 
below, we saw the smoke of the steamer and heard the 
puffing of steam as she came slowly up towards the 
same pile of freight. The steamer had tried for some 
days to get over the hard clay bar at mouth of White 
river without success, and had dropped back a few 
miles to a favorable place, and there, on dunnage 
placed on the dry ground, had discljarged the portion of 
cargo she had, and gone back ten miles below, where 
she had put off a first portion, and was then returning 
with it, to deposit it at the same place. Seeing the 
boat before I reached the freight pile, I at once turned 
the yawl's head down the river, and in a few moments 
was alongside and taken on board, with yawl in tow. 
I lost no time in reaching the ladies' cabin, where my 
wife and the nurse, with baby, were looking out of a 
window at the little yawl boat and my party, wonder- 
ing who could be afloat so far up that wild and unin- 
habited river in so small a craft. Kisses and compli- 
ments, explanations and recitals filled the hour, and we 
were soon tied up at the freight pile. 

Captain La Barge and his crew had worked faith- 
fully many days to go on up the liver to Pierre, but 
it was not possible to do, so that season. He now 
learned of the safe arrival of the mules and men; 
and also the non receipt b\' me of his letter. He 
had signed the bill of lading at St. Louis, obligat- 
ing himself to deliver the freight at Fort Pierre, 
unavoidable accidents, fire, etc., excepted, at so much 
per ton freight. He had freight and supplies, which 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 167 

the troo])s at Pierre absolutely required for ordin- 
ary comfort, yet he could not possibly take the same to 
them in his boat that winter. Hence, the ques- 
tion was, how can I g-et the siq^plies, and yet sat- 
isfy the carrier ? 

La Barge was willino^ to tie his boat w^here she was 
for the winter, send his crew back in small boats (save 
engineer and pilot and a few deck hands), pass the 
winter there and deliver the freight on the first rise in 
the spring ; or, he would deliver the freight then and 
there to me, provided I would endorse his bills, as if 
delivered at Fort Pierre, that is, at full price ; or, 
third, I could, by militarn force^ take the property and 
supplies at thai place and let him go back to the chief 
quartermaster at St. Louis, and make his claim against 
the government for pay, damages, etc. This matter, 
therefore, ]iresented a serious question for me to decide, 
and act on with no time to consult either the com- 
mander at Pierre, or at St. Louis. The chief quarter- 
master at St. Louis had failed, as usual, to provide in 
his contract for any such contingencies, as he should 
have known Avere liable to occur, and especially for 
the one which had occurred (viz., that of low water, 
making it impossible to reach Pierre that season with 
the steamer). I was therefore left to take all respon- 
sibility myself. I had about thirty mule teams at 
Fort Pierre which could be used in hauling the sup- 
plies overland during the winter, if not too severe, the 
distance being about, as I supposed, one hundred and 
sixty miles by a practicable trail, the clothing, 
corn and other supplies being indispensable for the 
troops' use. 

I felt it absurd to let the men suffer, with cloth- 



168 REMINISCENCES FKOM DIARY. 

ing lying on a steamer that close to them, waiting 
for the spring tide to be delivered. I thought the 
matter over that night and concluded to receipt his 
bills then and there, at the same rates as if delivered at 
Pierre. The next day I sent one of his Indians on a 
mule to Fort Pierre, with a written statement of my 
action to the commanding officer, and requested him 
tostart back with the sameguide, the thirty mule teams 
as lively as possible, with an escort of twenty soldiers, 
and to bring me a couple of tents for use on the way 
to Pierre with my wife, baby and nurse. Meanwhile I 
was engao-ed in aoing over the freight list and inven- 
tory, and having the master of the vessel, with his 
crew, properly stack up the goods on dry dunnage, and 
cover the same with paulins. This required several 
da3'S, by which time the teams arrived, and my family 
exchanged their shelter on the steamer for the tent on 
land, and the boat turned her prow once more down 
the river. I soon loaded the teams with the most 
needed supplies, and started my train back to Pierre. 
We were favored with fine weather and made the trip 
in a week, in the month of November, without acci- 
dent, or a cold or cough. 

Mrs. Atkinson had meanwhile got to housekeeping 
at Fort Pierre, and was, as the Indians said, the '" first 
white squaw there.*' My wife was the second, and 
during my absence to bring her to the post. General 
Harney, learning of her being on the boat, and that 
she would arrive, had directed one of the most com- 
fortable huts within the pickets to be put in order for 
our use, so that we soon got into quarters and had 
some of the comforts of home and much needed rest. In 
a few weeks, however, I put up a couple of the small 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 169 

cottages parallel to each other and eight feet apart, 
floored the space between with some puncheons, and 
covered it with canvas, thus making a hall, and 
the two cottages affording four good rooms. After a 
time the paymaster (Major Gaines) vacated the cottage 
he had, and I placed that at one end of this hallway, 
and tlius had two additional rooms, one serving as a 
kitchen, the other for servant's room. "VVe thus passed 
a pleasant winter, with not an hour's sickness. Mrs. 
Atkinson and my wife, whose domiciles were not fifty 
feet apart on the bare prairie, were like sisters, and 
eacli having their first babes (one a boy, the other a 
girl) all were happy and contented. 

In April, 1856, the Indians began to assemble for the 
grand council, or as many of the Sioux tribes or bands 
as might obey General Harney's circular. As the 
chiefs, sab-chiefs and head Indians arrived they would 
pitch a tepee or tent near the garrison and occupy it, 
or else were accommodated by some tents of the sol- 
diers, the object being to treat them well and kindly. 

Ail of them were provided witli food by Harney's 
order. My wife and Mrs. Atkinson being the first and 
only white women those Indians had ever seen, they 
never tired of standing round our cottages and gazing 
by the hour in at the windows to look at the " white 
squaws'' and the "white papooses." They even 
offered many robes and ponies in exchange for the 
"white squaws, '' and occasionally an Indian squaw 
Avould beg to handle the baby, which, to gratify their 
curiosity, was sometimes placed in their arms ; but 
our nurse was always in trepidation at such times lest 
the old squaw would make off with it. 

Finallv, when the council met it was in a large 



170 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

hospital tent, "or rather" two of them added on 
to one of the large portable cottages, thus giv- 
ing over 1,200 square feet in space ; and the council 
being open to all who cared to attend, surprised 
the Indians, whose custom was to have councils 
referring to peace and war rather secret, and never 
attended by their women. Especially were the In- 
dians surprised to see the two white squaws attend 
daily the council meetings and to see them es- 
corted to the most choice seats. Tliis was something 
to them most extraordinary, and altogether out of the 
way of treaty-making. 

The Indian never permits a female to appear in 
council, and to see two of the sex present at so im- 
portant a council as this was something which re- 
quired explanation. Harney, therefore, in the first 
day's meeting had his interpreter explain to ail the 
Indians present that the " white squaws " were just 
the same as white men were in all councils and 
meetings, and wereti-eated the same ; which announce- 
ment brought forth the usual " grunt or howe" which 
the uninformed may interpret to mean either approviil or 
disapproval. At all events, the chiefs and other not- 
able bucks had no alternative but to submit, and the 
council proceeded from day to day for nearly two weeks. 
This slow progress was partly meant to give time 
for some of the principal Indians to reach the place, 
because some of them had a long way to travel, say 
from one hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty 
miles, which, at that time of spring, was a serious 
undertaking. 

One old man, a Rick-arie chief, arrived late one 
day, from some point in his " dominions," not far 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 171 

from the Niobrara river. It was a wet, cold day 
when he walked into the council chamber and took his 
seat, and when the one then speaking was through, 
Harney called on the new arrival to speak. The old 
chief hesitated for a moment, and then rose, and rub- 
bing his abdomen and pressing his empty stomach, 
said : " I have but just arrived, wet, cold and hungry. 
I have traveled manv suns to be here, but I am too 
hungry to talk till I have something in here," (placing 
his hand on his stomach) "so I say, don't ask me to 
talk, but give me something to eat first." All felt the 
force and eternal fitness of old Rick-arie's speech, and 
my wife at once had him taken to our kitchen, where 
the coffee, hot rolls, etc., soon warmed him up. He 
was a big chief among all the tribes, and besides his 
age, was also considered wise in council, and therefore 
listened to whenever he did talk. He was also a life- 
long friend of the whites, and advocated peace at all 
times between whites and Indians. It was not strano;e 
therefore, that he desired to first take a scpuire meal, 
the better to prepare himself for the right kind of 
speech the following day. This he did, and next day 
delivered the best speech of the council, and was lis- 
tened to by all who could get in the room. 

As all things have an end, so Harney's council 
finally closed, although if there is anything that Gen- 
eral Harney never yet was known to tire of, it was the 
holding of " talks " and council treaties" with the 
Indians. The " Indian " specimen came nearer Har- 
ney's beau ideal of a match to himself, in human 
shape, than any other specimen of the genus homo. 
In fact, Harney had in his young days beaten the red 
men in running and jumping, and had even whipped 



172 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

them in battles but had never yet quite equaled them 
in strategy and in prowess of military mancruvre, 
yet always striving to that end. In this elfort the 
general had achieved some reputation as an Indian 
fio-hter, yet at great expense of time, money and of 
good material. He was savage towai'd the Indians 
before and (hiring tlie battle, but if lie won the day he 
was as mild and gentle toward his conquered foe as 
became a master to his slave, but lacked the brain, 
the practical administrative skill, and above all, lacked 
the official influence with the proper departments of 
the general government to induce a system of treat- 
ment and government among the Indians that would 
lead to their permanent benefit. Even his very 
excellent treaty with the Sioux on this occasion, wise 
in all its details so far as it went, the Government at 
Washington utterly declined or neglected to adopt, or 
carrv out his reconimenthitions, leaving his work of lit- 
tle benetit,and the Indian to the rapacity and wrongs 
of a horde of vampires, called Indian agents. 

Harnev's treaty arrangetl for and contemplated a per- 
manent peace between all participating tribes and the 
white man, and looked forward to a means of using 
the Indians as guides and escorts to emigrants cross- 
ing the plains. For this purpose the different bands of 
Indians were divided into squads of tens, twenties 
and fifties, with a "chief soldier " over each ten and 
twenty, and a sub-chief over the fifty, and prescribed 
ii badge and a uniform for each to be worn always 
while on duty, while head chiefs were to be supplied 
with a •' great seal " affixed to a broad ribbon, as 
evidence of official authority. I think some rations 
iind perhaps some clothing also was to be supplied as 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 173 

remuneration. The entire scheme was a most wise 
11 nd promising departure from all former attempts 
to control and utilize the Indian capacity. But no 
heed was paid to the arrangement by the authorities 
at Washington. And so it ended in failure. No 
doubt Indian agents were consulted by the author- 
ities, and they advised against it, because such employ- 
ment of the poor Indians would soon lead to their 
independence of the traders and agents, and the 
latter's field for robbery and extortion would be des- 
troyed. Nine out of ten of all the outbreaks, murders 
and massacres by Indians in the past are traceable to 
the wrongs done them by agents and traders, under 
permits, authorit}', or cover of the government. Had 
Harney's suggestions and preliminary agreements made 
with the bands or tribes of Sioux Indians in the spring 
of 1856 been ratified by the government, and all white 
men required to conform therewith, we never would 
have had the Indian troubles which have occurred 
annually since that time. However, the Indian sub- 
ject is too big a theme to dwell on in my diary notes 
or narrative like this, and the prospect of any great 
change for the better is not flattering, althou«:h much 
has been done and is being done (albeit at too late a 
day to merit any great praise) to educate and locate 
the few remaining Indians in a manner to benefit 
them. In the present century we live and move and 
die by steam and electricity, with no question of how 
can the greatest number of the people be most bene- 
fited, but, rather, how can some of us most rapidly 
disembowel the earth and absorb all therein contained, 
and form a trust on the air and ocean. 

Our vaunted liberty is merely a name, while, in 



174 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

fact, it consigns to death and to the Devil and the 
rear ranks the larger portion, the same as other nations 
have done. We boast, too, of our charitable institu- 
tions and the aid we give to the needy, but our system 
of laws and their mal-administi'ation and management 
of charitable asylums is ten-fold more in the interest 
of monopolies ami monopolists and political thieves 
than in the interest of the need_y, the weaker masses, 
or even of the middle class ; and by far the larger part 
of contributions ostensibly to the needy is for the pur- 
pose of getting I'id of the annoyance of the beggar, 
rather than a desire to benefit their condition. All 
nations and all peoples have done the same, and 
always Avill. No system of government, religion or 
morals has ever yet worked a rehiedy to the innate 
desire of the strong to rule over, and live on the labor 
of the weak, and however cunningly men may change 
the name of slavery, yet the lot of the lower and 
weaker is that of a slave all the same. Every man 
who has to carry his dinner pail to his work, and 
whose dail_y bread depends on liis day's work' for mme 
other man than himself^ is a slave^ whether he realizes 
the fact or not. You may change names at pleasure, 
but never the condition! Instead, of slave, call it 
"serf," " fellah," or " peon,'' still it is slave! Instead 
of bond slave, call it " wage-slave," and still it is the 
same ; the bond-slave had to give way for the broader 
and more useful wage laborer, which we now have 
well established for all time (if we intermit about half 
a century to extinguish pestiferous "labor organiza- 
tions," which will have a brief life and then be extin- 
guished). 

To return to our narrative at Fort Pierre. The 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 175 

Indian council being over about tiie first of May, 185G, 
and tlie springtime well advanced, the steamer Wm. 
Baird, which had passed the winter on the lower 
Missouri, got under way, and found sufficient water to 
reach Pierre with her small cargo ; and after discharg- 
ing the same was ready to turn her course toward 
St. Louis. General Harney meanwhile had formu- 
lated serious charges against Major Howe,and agenei'al 
court-martial had been ordei'ed to convene and try the 
case. It had been decided to hold the court at a point 
in the woods on the Missouii river near the mouth of 
what was known as the " Little Sioux River," a point a 
few miles above the village of Sioux City, and the 
court was to sit in tents erected for the pur])ose. Also, 
some of the officers at the post were to be members of 
the court and several others to be witnesses. It was 
therefore necessary to use the steamer Wm. Laird for 
transportation for this purpose; and accordingly Gen- 
eral Harney and staff, and the witnesses and members 
of the court, together with the required tents and 
equipage, etc., took passage down the river to be 
landed at the proper place, and the steamer then to 
continue on down the river. To enable the officers 
and witnesses uf that post to return when the court 
should adjourn, a couple of wagons and teams of mules 
were also put on the steamer with the tents. 

After seeing the preparations for so many to take 
a trip in the direction of civilization, and the writer 
being one as a witness before the court, Mrs. Turnley 
hastily made up her mind that she, too, desired to go 
on board, which she speedily did with babe and nurse, 
taking her chances for either returning over 300 miles 
of prairie or by going on by stage and boat to 



176 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

Council Bluffs and thence by stage to Chicago, as 
she might prefer. All being read}'' the boat 
started down stream and all had a pleasant, com- 
fortable time. About the third -day out and when 
three hundred miles below Pierre, to our surprise we 
met one of the spring boats from St. Louis coming up, 
and to the great astonishment of wife and m3'self, she 
had on board my wife's father, Dr. D. Rutter, of Chi- 
cago. We had never heard a word of his coming and 
were the more surprised to find him thus on the first 
boat of the season, so far up the river. The steamers 
stopped and ran alongside, and we soon took the 
doctor on our boat, to return with my wife, which was 
the object he had in view when leaving Chicago. Two 
da^'s more brought us to the'- place for holding the 
court, and all persons connected therewith, tents, mules, 
wagons and provisions were j)ut on shore, and the 
steamer with wife, and father, babe and nurse went on 
its course to St. Louis, instead of trying stage from 
Council Bluffs. I had purchased from the agent of the 
Fur Company the previous December a most excellent 
milch cow, which for the sake of the baby and good 
milk on the steamer I shipped also. ThatcowAventon 
to St. Louis and was tliere shipped on cars to Chicago, 
and was a most highly prized adjunct of the famil}' in 
Chicago for some years thereafter. 

Also at Fort Pierre, I had purchased an excellent 
natural pacing pony (large size) from Major Andrews. 
Deputy Paymaster General, and it was too valuable to 
leave at Fort Pierre (in fact never should have been 
taken thei"e), and I shipped it also with the cow to 
Chicago. It is but a small tribute to a valuable animal 
to state that said pony was used for ten years there- 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 177 

after in Chicago, and then when old and stiff, Judge 
Mark Skinner placed it in careful hands somewhere in 
the country. How long it lived the writer knows not. 
The steamer was soon out of sight with wife, babe, 
pony and cow, and I was left in the woods on the bank 
of the Missouri river ! In a few hours I had the tents 
put up. General Harney and staff occupied three of 
them, and the members of the court and witnesses the 
balance, there being, I think, about twelve or fourteen 
tents in ail. In two days more the court convened 
and proceeded to business. The charges against Major 
Howe comprised neglect of duty, disobedience of 
orders, and unnecessarily losing public property. The 
court was something like ten days or two weeks get- 
ting through the case; but finally adjourned 6-m6 ^«V, 
and all connected with it dispersed to their respective 
stations or homes. Harney and his aide (Captain 
Pleasanton), also Col. Joseph E. Johnston, went down 
the river on the first boat that reached Sioux City. 
Captain Wessels, Captain N". Lyon, Captain D. David- 
son and myself (by means of the transportation we had 
brought with us from Fort Pierre) took up our line of 
travel back to that post. It was a tedious though not 
unpleasant trip, over the long rolling prairies stretch- 
ing between the big Sioux river and old Fort Lookout, 
say 250 miles ; and at that point we crossed to the 
south side of the Missouri river, and thence to Pierre. I 
had some business at Fort Lookout, which kept me 
there one day and night, and the other officers went on, 
so I had to follow alone with an ambulance and driver 
the following day, a distance of eighty miles, without 
guard or escort. 

Before the court-martial adjourned, and before 

12 



178 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY.* 

Harney had left, however, he had received authority 
to vacate Fort Pierre and order a location lower down 
the river, and I had the necessary orders to return to 
Pierre and commence at once the removal of all but a 
sufficient guard to the public property. When I 
arrived at Pierre, therefore, all was bustle and stir in 
view of the removal. Steamers from St. Louis with 
the annual supplies had been ordered to discharge 
their cargoes at the point selected for the new post, 
and I soon prepared all the wagons I had to load and 
proceed with the stores and troops at Pierre, down 
river by land, to the same place. That point was after- 
ward called Fort Randall, and is known as such 
to-dav. A most sad occurrence took place at Pierre 
just a few days before my return there, in the 
family of the post trader, Mr. Atkinson. The woman 
-whom his wife had employed in the house as servant, 
and also nurse, put the little boy to bed as usual 
upstairs, and carelessl}' set the lamp under the bed, 
and the tip of the flame gradually caught to the under 
side of the mattress, which soon set the entire bed on 
jfire. It was discovered only when the room was full 
of smoke, and the babe so badly burned that it died in 
■great agony in a few hours, I thus found poor Mrs. 
Atkinson in the deepest grief, with not ev^en her hus- 
•band present, for he had gone down to the new point 
selected to put men to work erecting his new store. 
Her house, where this sad accident occurred, stood 
only a few yards from the quarters my wife and 
babe had but a few weeks before vacated (my house- 
hold things being still in it), and the change from 
the happ3', cheerful life, which then existed, to the 
crushing blow thus inflicted on Mrs. Atkinson, made 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 179 

the stoutest hearts bleed in sympathy. Everything 
that mortals could do of course was done, but that was 
little, indeed, to a weeping mother. Even the Indians 
still lingering about the post, and who had so long 
admired the little boy along with my little daughter, 
playing in the same yard, evinced every sign of the 
deepest sj'mpathy, sorrow and surprise as to how such 
calamity had occurred. Interpreters, however, ex- 
plained to them just how it had taken place. 

Before many days I had all available teams loaded 
and on their wa}' over the long prairies to the new 
site, and I then loaded my office desks, chairs, books, 
papers and little iron safe and valuables into a yawl 
boat, and taking my clerk with me, started down the 
Tiver, mvself being master steersman and oarsman, going 
over the same part of the river I did in search of the 
steamer St. Mary, the previous November; only I went 
on still one hundred miles below that point, and arrived 
at the new post about the first of September (1856). 
Colonel Francis Lee had meanwhile arrived there as 
the chief in command. Tents were pitched in proper 
order for the different companies ; and the first thing 
to be done was to prepare for winter. Not a stick of 
timber had been cut for this purpose, nor were there 
any boards or lumber to be had. Hay had yet to be 
put up for the animals in winter; and early in Octo- 
ber 7('0 head of beef cattle arrived from the con- 
tractors, and these had to be inspected (estimated as 
to weight, for we had no scales), placed in proper 
herds, to be cared for ; and ha\'' to be put up for them 
during the winter. All this work had to be done under 
my supervision by the soldiers of the four companies 
then on the ground, and thev not more than half 



180 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

their proper strength. As the chief quartermaster 
present, this work devolved on me ; and I called for 
details of men to go to work (on extra duty) as it was 
called, that is, at 25 cents per day extra pay. Some 
I put in camp six miles off on the north, or opposite 
side of the river, to cut and put up hay ; others I put 
to cutting the poles and logs to make huts : while 
others were put to cut necessary fire wood. Many of 
the wagons, too, had to be driven by soldiers, and all 
carpenter work and blacksmithing, harness mending 
by the same. I whip-sawed stuff for a large flat boat 
or " scow ", so as to be able to cross and recross the 
river, which enabled me to pass wagons and teams 
back and forth as was needed ; for such a thing as a 
" ford " I believe has never yet been discovered on 
the Missouri river anywhere between I'ort Benton 
aud Alton, Illinois. I continued the work of providing 
hay and fuel, and making such huts and fixing tents 
for the winter as I could, and about the fifteenth of 
December I received a dispatcli by a courier from a 
point some fifteen miles above the mouth of the James 
river, that another steamer with supplies had reached 
that point but was unable to come any further on 
account of low water. It proved to be the D. H. 
Morton, and had been loaded at St. Louis with needed 
supplies of corn, potatoes, clothing and other things, 
but, as usual, the chief quartermaster in St. Louis was 
utterly obliviousor indifferent to the fact that it was too 
late in the autumn to count with any certainty, on the 
boat getting to the post. Most men, even administra- 
tive officers in the array, will learn or inbibe some 
practical forethought by experience, though occasion- 
ally one meets with a character of the opposite kind. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 181 

Cashiering and dismissal from the service would be a 
light punishment for this kind of neglect of duty, 
or lack of business capacit3\ The message from 
the boat stated what her cargo consisted of, and 
among other things, that Mayor Hannibal Day was 
on board, en route to the new post, to which com- 
mand he properly belonged, and that he would remain 
on the boat till 1 should send transportation for him to 
come up by land, notwithstanding the boat's bill of 
lading- show^ed she had on board twelve mules and two 
wagons, harness complete, with two men in charge and 
several tents. The distance by land, from the boat 
to the post, was about ninety miles, or perhaps less; 
No road, of course, only the untraveled prairie, and 
on the north or opposite side of the I'iver from the 
post. Major Day's request, for transportation, under 
the circumstances, was a little cooler than the weather, 
which in a few hours had reached five degrees 
above, with ice rapidl}^ forming in the river, and 
about five inches of snow on the ground. I dispatched 
the courier back to the boat, with my answer that 
I would, as soon as 1 could, cross ten wagons over 
the river, and proceed to find the boat, but sug- 
g-ested that the two wagons and twelve mules on the 
boat ought to be sufficient for " one line Major of Infan- 
try." I had served with Major Day in Mexico a few 
months (that being as long as he was in the habit of 
doing active duty anywhere, at one time) and had sized 
him up pretty accurately as a man of great ease and 
monotonous inaction ! I was not mild in my sugges- 
tion, that he could reach my post about as soon as I 
€Ould his steamer if he made half the effort I would 
have to. As it turned out my suggestion hit the mark 



182 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

and sure enouoh he promptly rigged up the two team& 
and with liis bag'o^ao'e, includino: cigars and i^ood old 
Bourbon, which he had spent at least two weeks in some 
city on his way selecting, took up his line of travel 
over the prairie for the post. I hurried to cross mules 
and wagons over the river, and also started with ten 
teams for the boat, and the second night out I camped 
at the same place Major Day did, so accurately had we 
met even on a ninety mile stretch of trackless prairie. I 
learned from Day the exact state of affairs at the boat^ 
and the necessity of placing her in good position for 
the winter, when the freezing up of the river generally 
caused a subsidence of water which would leave the 
steamer dangerously on Hn uneven bottom ; and it was- 
important that I get to her in time to place her safely,. 
before she got fast in the ice, and could not be moved. 
After coffee we parted, he taking my trail and I his, 
and that night I camped on the bank of the river some- 
fifteen miles above the boat. Thermometer had fallen 
to zero ; the ice in the river was moving very slowly, 
and we went to sleep on our buffalo robes under the 
music of the grinding noise of the ice as it slowly moved 
along the frozen shores. B}'^ midnight it ceased to 
move, and all was still as death. Thermometer twelve 
degrees below zero. After hot coffee we resumed our 
course, and by two p. m. reached the boat. 

Captain S. A. Turner was master of the steamer^ 
with a full crew well provisioned ; he also had his wife 
along, and seemed to be as contented and happy as 
though he were within a mile of the port of St. Louis, 
and had evidently left St. Louis with a view of spend- 
ing the winter on the river. He had fixed the boat in 
as good a place as he could for a long winters sleep; 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 18a 

had his men digging a hole in the bluff bank to store 
the two thousand bushels of potatoes, which were in 
the hold of his s^essel. The potatoes meanwhile were 
frozen as hard as stones. I told him he was too late 
digging his hole, and if he put the potatoes in it they 
would thaw and be spoiled. He acknowledged he had 
not thought of that. In fact, being an old sea dog 
only, he knew little of potato preserving, so he sus- 
pended operations. I learned also that he had put out 
on the shore near the mouth of James river (twenty 
miles below) some five hundred sacks of corn, hoping 
thereby to lighten up the boat sufficiently to reach the 
post. After a few hours' examination of things I 
loaded the ten teams with potatoes and the most 
needed clothing, and corn enough to feed the mules, 
and started back to the post on the ice. I had taken only 
four mules to each wagon, and these could easily haul 
four to five thousand pounds to the wagon, on the ice, or 
even over smooth dry sand-bars. My only fear was the 
breaking through the ice, where it might be too weak,, 
and there being snow on it, it was not always easy to 
judge of its thickness or strength. Besides there are 
places along that river especially under bluff banks^ 
where invisible warm springs occassionally come out^ 
and at such places the ice is never safe. I kept in front 
myself, on my horse and took great care to discover 
the safe track for the teams to follow me, and we thus 
avoided an}'- fatal accident. One day, however, one of 
the wagons broke through with both hind wheels, and 
at a place where the channel of water was nearly 
eight feet deep, and running like a mill race under the 
ice. The alarm was given at once and all rear teams 
turned out of the track and made for the sand bars 
across the river. 



184 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

I rushed back to the disabled wagon, cut the mules 
loose and sent them toward the bar, had men to 
quickly take out the loading, Avhich was easily done, 
being in sacks, and we then managed to lav feed 
troughs and poles on the ice to stand on and raised 
the wagon so as to pull it out. It was a close shave 
and a most dangerous predicament to have a loaded 
wagon and mules in. But, all is well that ends well, 
and we felt happy. Onr exciting experience only made 
us the more cautious. The weather, meanwhile, became 
intensely cold, reaching twenty -five degrees below 
zero at one time. We dispensed with coffee almost 
entirel}^, and, in fact, cooked but little food. The 
meat part of our food was fresh beef killed at the post 
before we started and thrown into the wagons in quar- 
ters, and many of the men chip])ed off their frozen 
meet with a hatchet and ate it raw, which, by the way, 
could hardly be called raw, because meat so thor- 
oughly frozen is pretty well cooked, even without fire. 
We finally reached Fort Randall safely — only a few 
frozen toes and fingers. We had difficulty in passing 
the mouth of the Niobrara river, on account of the 
weakness of the ice, made so apparently by the warmer 
water of that river where it enters the Missouri. 



CHAPTER Vlll. 



In January, 1857, I received my first short leave of 
absence from the War Department. I had applied for 
it the ])revious summer, to enable me to attend to 
business of a legal nature in Tennessee, and had waited 
patiently, or impatiently, more than half a year to hear 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 185 

from ni}' application; and, according to ray luck, or 
otherwise, the leave came in the deepest, deadest, cold- 
est months of one of the most severe winters on record, 
and I more than five hundred miles from any other 
means of travel than mule or horseback, with twenty 
inches of snow all over the face of the earth. Still, I 
determined to avail myself of the leave, provided the 
post commander. Col. Francis Lee, would sanction it, 
for the leave was granted at the War Department on 
condition only, that the post commander considered 
the public service would not suffer therebv. This, of 
course, left me still at the mercy of my post comman- 
der, and while Colonel Lee was a man of extremel3^kind 
and gentle disposition, yet he was in miserable health 
with a chronic d3'spepsia and other ailments, which 
made his daily life a burden and misery to himself and 
others about him. It was a new place, only a winter 
camp in fact, with few or no comforts and but little 
means of creating any — all 3'oung officers, with little, 
experience and less energy in the Avay of '' hustling 
around " to improvise necessary means for the winter. 
So that, on reflection. Colonel Lee did not feel disposed 
to let me slip out from his command till he could feel 
surer of having some one able to take my place, and in 
this way time passed and I was delayed till Febru- 
ary. Even then Colonel Lee required me to fit out an- 
other train of wagons and accompany the same as far 
as the steamer, then load it and start it back to him. 
This I consented to do readily, because, in the flrst 
place, it was directly on my line of travel and I could 
have the assistance and protection of the train just so 
far on my trip homewards, and after loading and start- 
ing the train back I could continue down the river on 
ice, for that Avas the onlv way then practicable. 



186 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

I hastily constructed a small sled or cutter out of 
the o'reen cottonwood of the locality, ironed the run- 
ners with the hoops which came from old barrels and 
boxes, and arranged the sled for my private saddle 
horse to work in, to carry myself and clerk (as he 
would not remain at that post without me). I also 
had made a larger sled in the same manner, for twa 
mules to work in, to carry my luggage, provisions, 
papers, etc., to be driven by a discharged soldier who 
desired to accompany me to the States. 1 soon had all 
things ready, and asked the colonel to please designate 
some officer to whom I could transfer the public prop- 
erty and funds in my hands and get receipts, with which 
to settle my accounts at Washington. The colonel 
almost relented at the last moment, so much did he 
regret to see me leave his post. lie said he really did 
not know of an officer who could relieve me. I assured 
him that Lieutenant J. D. CConnell, of Second Regi- 
ment of Infantry, was in all respects competent to 
manage all the affairs of the department at that post, 
so he finally granted the leave, and I soon 
had a train of thirty four-mule teams ready to 
start on the ice down the river. The snow was very 
deep all over the prairies, also on the ice, though for 
many miles at a stretch there was glare ice to 
travel on. The weather was cold, though moderating, 
and on the morning of February 25th, I started the 
train with orders to camp at Puncas Island ; and pack- 
ing my baggage, robes, blankets and box of papers in 
the sled and self and clerk in the cutter, I followed on 
at noon, overtaking the train at the designated point. 
It had become so mild during the day that slight sur- 
face melting of snow and ice could be seen in many 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. l&T 

places and that first night in camp was so still and mild 
that the men merely spread their buffalo robes and 
blankets on the ground in front of the log fires made 
on shore, and all slept comfortablv. At daylight all 
hands were up and had coffee early, the calm, dark, 
smoky atmosphere indicating rain more than anything 
else, and soon after sunrise, or the time it should rise, 
all hands with whips cracking were in a trot down the 
icy river's course, I leading off with my cutter, so as 
to pilot the following train around any air holes in the 
ice. The winter had been so severe that the ice had 
formed of immense thickness, not unfrequently to the 
thickness of three feet, and this great thickness of ice 
on a body of water always produces air holes 
which smoke like great craters, where the warmer 
water comes in contact with the colder air. We thus 
traveled at the rate of five miles per hour, 
until near noon, when suddenly a roaring in our 
rear was heard, quite destroying the sound of the mov- 
ing train. 

Reaching a very large space of clear water I 
halted to let the train come up, seeing there was great 
danger of it driving into the air hole without seeing 
it. While thus waiting I scanned the horizon in the 
rear (to northwest) and saw that the roaring noise I 
heard was in fact a terrific blizzard coming with great 
fury, striking us in the back. When the front teams 
came up to me I directed them to follow me closely, 
and pushed on, almost carried forward by the force of 
the wind, travelino- the meanwhile alon^^ the west 
bank of the river. It was not an hour longer, however,, 
till it was evident the storm was too severe to travel 
antl the lead-ing wagon-master gailo})ed forward and 



188 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

asked me to let the train bear to the right close under 
the bluff shore, and go into camp. I assented, telling 
him I would do the same five miles farther on, where 
I knew there was a heavy growth of cottonwood tim- 
ber, which would shelter us from the storm. That was 
the last I saw of the train for forty-two hours (or the 
second day thereafter at 8 a. m.). I continued the lead 
with my cutter, the mule sled following along the 
west shore to the desired place, the last mile or two 
being in two feet of snow on top of the ice, and reach- 
ing a place where it appeared I could get horses and 
mules up the bank, I halted. This spot was five miles 
above the ]\iobrara river. My clerk, Mr. John 
Ring, had all the ' while been sitting b\' my side 
not saN^ng a word, but liuddled up in robe, muffler 
and scarf as I supposed merel}^ for quiet comfort. 
I looked at the thermometer attached to my cutter and 
saw it registered 20*^ below zero. This surprised me, 
as I had no idea it was at so low a temperature ; having 
fallen 35'^ in ten hours ! I at once freed my horse 
from the cutter, with hatchet cut away some brush 
and twigs and scraped off some snow and scrambled 
up the bank which was fully ten feet high, thus mak- 
ing a track to invite my horse to follow me. 

The driver of my sled, meantime, had freed his 
mules, and they followed my horse to the higher 
ground, and we soon had a clear space by some old 
dry logs for the animals to stand in, and in a short 
time had a crackling lire with dry branches piled 
against one of the large fallen trees. All the while I 
wondered why Mr. Ring, my clerk, had not got out of 
the cutter to help, and I told the sled driver, O'Brien, 
to go and call him out, which he proceeded to do, and 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 139 

found him fast asleep and his efforts failed to awaken 
him. I hastened to his assistance, fearing the cause of 
his sleep, and sure enough poor Ring was about as 
nearly in his final and last sleep as he could ever expect 
to be and wake again ! I pulled him out of the cutter 
and the two of us literally carried him up the banic to 
the fire, distant about one hundred feet, spread his buf- 
falo rope on the ground before the fire and laid Eing 
on it. Then began a series of poundings, rubbings 
and rollings for full ten minutes before we could rouse 
the man from his frozen sleep. 

This was finally accomplished, however, and we 
were not long in having a pot of hot coffee. Still 
raged that storm witii increasing severit}^ ; the wind 
must then have been at a velocity of sixty miles per 
hour, out in clear prairie and river, but the dense tim- 
ber we were in sheltered us finely. Our animals even 
appreciated our position, and actually looked at us 
fixing the fire, as if they fully understood it was done 
for comfort. We had food for animals and for our- 
selves in the sled, with horse blankets, robes, etc., so 
that we made ourselves as comfortable for the night as 
was possible under the circumstances. Of course, I 
was anxious about the train, and the men and animals, 
which had turned in to shore some miles behind me, 
but had no possible chance that night to communicate 
with or hear anything about them, and looked forward 
to the following morning, when the storm would 
cease, and we might unite and proceed on our way. 

With these leflections I passed the night, falling 
asleep just after two a. m. the next morning, but woke 
up at six by my watch to find that great storm still 
howling as fiercely and wild as the night before ! We 



19D REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

made coffee and broiled a piece of beef, which made 
breakfast; yet no signs of cessation in the storm, and 
so passed tiiat long and mrmorable day and the fol- 
lowing night, and it was not till three a. m. of the 
second morning that the waning force of the g^ale could 
be discovered. But once the wind did begin to slack 
it died rapidly, almost as rapidly as it had begun, and 
by nine a. m. it suddenly cleared off, the flying snow 
ceased to obscure the air, and one could see entirely'' 
across the broad snow covered river's track to the 
€ast (there full half-mile wide) and in a thrice the sun 
broke forth in dazzling splendor, while the atmosphere 
was as calm as it was clear. Not the slightest feather 
would have been stirred by any breeze discernible. I then 
looked at my thermometer where it stood thirty-nine 
degrees below zero. How much colder it was I could 
not tell, for the Mercur}^ was frozen. We began at 
once to pick up things, uncover our sleds (for I had 
taken the precaution to turn them upside down aij:ainst 
the bank, so as to prevent them being buried under a 
mountain of drifting snow). In half an hour I was 
ready to start back on my trail in search of the train, 
but had not proceeded a thousand yards till I heard 
whips cracking, and stopped to wait and learn whence 
it came. In a few moments the white-covered wagons 
could be seen rounding a bend in the river only a few 
hundred yards distant. All hands were glad to meet 
once more, and we turned our course down the river. 
This point, where I had lain the previous nights, is five 
or six mdes above the present mouth of the Niobrara 
river, Nebraska. I have never seen the place since, but 
hope some day, either in the flesh or otherwise, to re- 
new my acquaintance with the sheltering trees and 
friendly logs in that *'cottonwood bottom." 



REMINISOE^^CES FROM DIA.RY. 191 

Continuing our way down the river, we soon 
reached the mouth of the Niobrara, whose warmer 
waters mingling with those of the Missouri made the 
ice too treacherous at that place and for a mile 
below to be safe to travel with wagons. I therefore 
turned up the smaller river, on its north bank,withthe 
train of wagons, a distance of a few hundred yards to 
where it was shallow and also frozen and there crossed 
the train, then returned to the Missouri and traveled 
for a mile close along the shore. The Missouri river at 
this place was full half a mile wide at season of high 
water, and at the time I write (23d February, 1857) 
it presented one vast sea of snow and ice, with a con- 
siderable bluff bank on the opposite side from us. As 
I turned to take our course down the river at about 
noondav, a dull sun shining but no wind, I descried on 
the distant shore some moving animal, which soon 
<3eveloped into the shape of a human being about the 
size of a ten-year-old boy ; and not far from it I dis- 
cerned what my eve-glass showed was a grayish colored 
mule, and near it was some inanimate object, parcel 
or bundle, I could not make out what. The discovery 
at such a time, in that wild, desolate, uninhabited 
region at about one hundred and forty miles from the 
nearest habitation (which was Sioux City) was evidence 
that somebody was in distress or at least weather- 
bound. I therefore halted the train, and sent a man on 
foot over the ice to the opposite side of the river to ascer- 
tain what it was. Meantime the " man object"' had 
seen us and began to make signs for us to wait, and 
began to hitch the mule he had to the other object. 
The man I sent arrived in time to help him, and they 
both, with mule and an old snow sled with some blank- 



193 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

ets and bags, being the inanimate objects my glass dis- 
closed, came across to where I was waiting. I then 
learned all about him. He was a small, wiry Cana- 
dian Frenchman, named Dave Prue, who had been for 
some years in the employ of the American Fur Com- 
pany in that far-off region, and in the autumn of 1S55 
I had engaged him as courier and mail carrier, whose 
business was to carry our mails from the different 
military posts and camps to the nearest United States 
post-office (then Sioux City) and bring therefrom the 
mail matter for the posts. To do this he was fitted out 
with two mules, one to ride, the other to pack his 
mail, provisions and bedding on. He had left Fort 
Randall on one of his regular trips about the fii'st of 
the month, had been to Sioux City, and was returning 
with his bag of mail matter. His general course was 
over the prairie, in as direct a line as he could travel, 
but the heavy snowfall had greatly delayed him, and 
while in Sioux City, induced him to rig himself a small 
sled, to which he hitched both mules. He had thus 
traveled back on his trip, about one hundred miles, 
striking the Missouri river near the mouth of the Nio- 
brara the same day the great blizzard broke over that 
lonely region, and he sought shelter under cover of the 
bluff bank for himself and mules. Like the rest of us 
who were out in the storm he had suffered dreadfully, 
by reason of having lost or spoiled his matches, and 
was heartsick at the long continuance of the storm. 
His mules had nothing to eat but the bark of the Cot- 
tonwood branches which he cut with his ax ami laid 
before them. His small supply of provisions had 
given out, for he had been twice as long working his 
way through snow drifts from Sioux City as he had 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 193 

counted on ; his hands and feet were frozen dreadfully, 
while his poor mules were pictures of greater despair 
than the most forlorn burro generally presents. I 
heard his story, fully realized his condition, supplied 
him with rations, and feed for his mules, bandages for 
his frozen limbs, had some wood cut and a good fire 
made for him, and told him to camp where he was for 
a day or two's rest ; and after overlooking his mail and 
taking therefrom such as belonged to me, left him to 
his fate, and proceeded on my journey down the Mis- 
souri's " sea of ice." To make up time I traveled as 
fast as mules could trot, I leading off in front as usual, 
with my horse and cutter, followed by my sled, that 
in turn by the thirty-four mule teams. My desire had 
been to camp that night at or near "Bon-Hommes Is- 
land," or wherever a good place for fuel offered. 

And now came one of the most unusual changes I 
had ever known, even in that land of blizzards, buffa- 
loes and buck Indians. It was the rising of another 
blizzard, so soon after the one we had just gone through. 
Like the other, too, it came with a roaring, howling, 
shrieking noise from behind us, and began about 4 p. 
M., and in one hour was blowing a hurricane, the snow 
whizzmg past our heads like shot from a gun, filling 
the air so as to prevent seeing objects only a few rods: 
in advance. I directed the assistant wagon-master 
(Corporal McCormic) to ride on in front of my cutter 
so as to better discover air-holes. The corporal did 
this for a few miles and then turned to me and said he 
could not stand it any longer, although he was well 
wrapped up in overcoat, cap and furs, but somehow 
his ears had been left exposed and I discovered one of 
them was as white as the snow around us. I asked him 

13 



194 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

what ailed his ear, and he then discovered it \\ Si's, frozen 
nicehj. I jumped out of my cutter and gathered a lot 
of snow and made him get into one of the wagons 
(hitching to the same his mule to be led) and began to 
rub his ear with snow until it began to burn. This saved 
him his ear, but not from having a painfull}' sore one. I 
soon found it impossible to make progress in the blind- 
ing snow, and turned my course towards the north 
shore of the river, at a point where there was a large 
flat bottom of thick undei'growth ; and as fast as pos- 
sible we got into line with all wagon tongues pointing 
to shoi'e, stripped off the harness and got the animals 
out in the brush for such shelter as it afforded. "We 
next got out the large Indian tepee or tent, made of 
buffalo skins, made circular in form, much as the Sib- 
ley tent, and fifteen feet high at the apex and twenty 
feet in diameter at the base, with capacity when 
properly put up to house all hands. The men soon 
scraped the snow from a space, and had it up ; 1 then 
went to consult my thermometer which read twenty-six 
below zero. It was now dark, with Boreas howling 
wild with rage, and the snow moving horizontally in 
the air with a velocity of flying sparrows. Coffee, 
however, was first in order, after that to arrange for 
-sleeping. Some of the men proposed to sleep in their 
wagons, which were drawn up on smooth glare ice, so 
thick and clear it looked a bluish green. I disapproved 
of that, however, and told them I thought it better for 
all to crowd into the tepee. It was a time and a con- 
dition of affairs to urge all hands to a very quiet, 
democratic mode of life, to avoid freezing to death. 
The storm gave signs to my mind of being even worse 
than the previous one, and I really never felt more 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 195 

anxious or apprehensive for the safety of men and 
animals under my cliarge, than I did then. We there- 
fore all sheltered in our great " leather tent," every 
man contributing his buffalo robe (or so far as needed) 
to spread down on the ground, from which all snow, 
sticks and trash had been scraped, then the rest of 
robes and blankets were used to cover with ; and the 
men lay down feet to centre, like spokes of a wheel. 
Every half-hour during the long and boisterous night 
one of the men was called to turn out and make the 
rounds of the mule herd, a few rods distant, in the 
thick brush and undergrowth, so as to screen the 
poor brutes as much as possible from the terrible 
wind. The man called up to do this was to report 
how the animals appeared to be doing. Thus passed 
the first night, and with daylight came no cessation of 
that second big blizzard ; on the contrary, while getting 
coffee ready the storm seemed actually to be still on 
the increase,with the temperature still about 26 degrees 
below zero. The men soon turned out, cold and trying 
as it was, to hunt up each man his four team mules, 
and rub and warm them up as much as possible. One 
was found frozen stiff in death, and many others 
closely following in the same direction. It was at 
once determined to fell some dead dry trees near by 
and make a rousing fire to windward side, and feed it 
with dry branches, and pass the poor mules in review 
alongside the fire giving each one at least a "sniff" of 
warmth. Also we hung'half a dozen camp kettles of 
water over the fire and when boiling poured in the 
oats for the mules' feed that morning, and thus gave it 
to them as hot as they would eat it. We also gave 
them water to drink warmed to 80 or 90 degrees. 



196 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

All of which soon brightened up the quadrupeds, and 
seemed to make the wildest mule in the lot as affec- 
tionate and subdued as a civilized Indian at least ! Thus 
passed that day and its long night following of howl- 
ino- winds, until midnight when one could discover 
the lengthening spaces between blasts, indicative on 
those blizzard plains of a d^'ing storm. By daylight 
all was calm and tranquil. The sun rose bright 
with a large disk spreading light and warmth over 
all, and every one was glad to crawl out of a thirt}"- 
six-hour confinement. Even the quadrupeds brayed 
as only that long-eared animal can, and they were 
ag'ain treated to a warm breakfast of scalded oats, 
Avhile the men took hot coffee, and by 8 o'clock all 
hands began to prepare to hitch up. Our wagons 
which had been left in line on glare ice thirty-six 
hours before, had served as a nucleus to catch the 
drifting snow and Avere now buried out of sight. 
Fortunately the harness had been left inside the cov- 
ered wagons, with sheets closely drawn, so that not 
much snow had gotten inside, likewise we had our 
shovels and spades with us in our tepee, so that we 
soon got to work digging out the wagons, which was 
very slow and cold work ; but by noon we got hitched 
up, and once more under way down the ice covered 
river. We traveled rapidly, and that night reached the 
long-sought steamer, D. H. Morton. The cold had 
moderated, till it was only eighteen degrees below 
and after disposing of the mules for the night, the 
men spread their buffaloes in the boat's cabin, and all 
had a quiet night's rest and sleep. The master of the 
vessel, Capt. S A. Turner, reported the state of affairs 
on his boat, and the men were put to work the next 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 197 

morning, loading the wagons .with such supplies as 
were most needed at Fort Randall. I made proper 
invoices of all public property transferring the same 
to Lieut. O'Connel at Randall, who had become my 
successor, and the following day the teams were 
started back to Randall, while I rested several days at 
the boat, repairing m}'^ sleds and replenishing provi- 
sions, in order to continue ray travel down the river to 
JSioux City, still distant (by course of the river) near 
160 miles. It was the 3d of March when I left that 
steamer again w^ith my cutter and sled, my clerk, Mr. 
Ring, and O'Brien, the driver of the sled. 

A lonely ride, indeed, lay before us for so small a 
party, so long a distance, and only the treacherous* 
ice-covered river for a road. I camped the first night 
on the Nebraska side of the liver some miles below 
the mouth of the James river, which entered the Mis- 
souri river, however, on the opposite side. Moving on 
the next day till about noon, I discovered it was diffi- 
cult to avoid air holes and was liable at any moment to 
plunge into one, horse, cutter and all. I traveled 
slowly and carefully, however, and camped again on 
the Nebraska side. The next day, March 4th, I concluded 
to leave the icy river and try land travel awhile. No 
roads, of course, existed at that time, and one's course 
was over the trackless prairie which would not have 
been difficult had not the earth been covered with 
snow. That one day satisfied me; my animals were 
too severely worked in getting through the deep snow 
so I returned to the river, preferring to risk the air 
holes and have less fatigue, and on the 5th of March 
made a fine day's travel, and on the 6th drove into 
Sioux City just at dark, found a comfortable little 



193 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

tavern " for man and 'beast,'' which both enjoyed ta 
the full extent of a much enlarged necessity. By the 
next morning the Aveather had greatly moderated, and 
I devoted the day to attending to public matters per- 
taining to the department at Sioux City. I was offici- 
ally responsible for a large amount of corn and other 
property which had been concentrated there too late 
in the previous autumn to reach Fort Randall by 
steamer, on account of low \s'ater, although I had a 
commissioned " forage master " there as an agent, yet 
I found he had not done all tliat was necessary to pre- 
serve the property when the spring rise in water should 
come. To arrange for these matters I spent the day 
and let my animals rest, and started the next day^ 
March 8th, on the regular stage road leading between 
Sioux City and Council Bluffs, one hundred and ten 
miles distant. The snows had fallen at various times 
during that long winter, none had melted, and the low 
temperature of the air had not been favorable for the 
evaporation of much snow, but there had been much 
travel over that road all winter, the snow was well 
packed in a good high ridge on the road, making 
travel on it comparatively easy to the animals. I 
counted on making the trip to Council Bluffs, if the 
road continued as it was, in a little over two days, or 
in three at most. On the second day out from Sioux 
City, however, I discovered signs of my most excellent 
and favorite horse giving out, and in less than another 
hour's travel he could only travel in a walk. The two 
mules to the sled were not in much better plight, and 
the "thaw" had set in, so that ever}^ step was in slushy 
snow and water, with here and there bare places of earth 
appearing, making sledding hard work, indeed. While 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 199' 

thus wading through the slush at a walk, I descried ta 
my right in the timbered bottom, a half mile distant, a 
farmhouse, and, like a lonely traveler before me, I 
knew at once, "from the smoke which so gracefully 
curled from its cot and clay " chimney top, that some 
friendly farmer abided therein, and instinctively turned 
my horses' head toward it. 

As I drove along the fence and around the covered 
yards, a score of carcasses of dead calves and sheep 
greeted the eye, and told plainer than any words- 
could how severe the winter had been on the live- 
stock which had been imperfectly sheltered, I was met 
at an old tumble-down gateway leading to the house 
yard by the landlady, and when I made known my 
desire to get some dinner (it was then 3 p. m.) she wel- 
comed me in, and hurried off to kitchen and larder to 
prepare meals for three of us. Meanwhile her husband 
came in, and took our animals to his log pens, which 
were substitutes for stables. While dinner was being 
prepared I looked over the condition of my horse and 
mules, and concluded if I could hire fresh ones, I 
would leave them there to rest for a few da\'s. This I 
mentioned to the man (I am sorry his name was lost 
with a scrapbook) and he readily agreed to keep them 
and care for them at a reasonable price ; and also 
agreed for ten dollars to hitch up his own two-horse 
wagon, and take my party, baggage, etc., into Council 
Bluffs, then about eighteen miles distant. This was 
soon arranged and the wagon made ready, baggage 
changed, after doing justice to the woman's dinner 
(which was a good one for our three superb appetites), 
we started again for Council Bluffs, It was now 5 p, m. 
and the roads had become mud and Avater nearly 



200 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

everyvvhere, making progress slow, and it was long 
after 10 p. m. when we drove up to tiie Council Bluffs 
tavern, to find rest. While at breakfast next morning 
I learned my brother, L. G. Turnley, was in the city 
very sick with pneumonia, and I hastened to hunt him 
up, finding him in a little room at his boarding house, 
convalescing. I spent the day and night with him, 
and most of the next day, until I was assured he was 
out of danger and he felt so himself. I made a hasty 
visit across the river (on the ice) to Omaha, to visit 
Dr. Geo. L. Miller and wife who had been such de- 
lightful companions with'>me on the Wm. Baird in the 
summer of 1855i I found them snugly in their new 
Omaha home — happy as could be, glad to see me and 
urged me to stop over a wiiile with them, but I had to 
decline, having visions of wife and babies awaiting me 
in Chicago. The folio wins: tlav I took stage with mv 
clerk, for St. Joseph, Missouri, distant over one hun- 
dred and fifty miles. I left O'Brien, the driver of the 
sled, to look after the animals till later in the spring 
when steamers would reach there from St. Louis, and 
for him to brins: the animals in to Council Bluffs when 
they were rested and deliver them to my brother with 
whom I arranged to dispose of them. The stage was a 
large Tro}^ coach and carried eight or nine passengers, 
myself and clerk, and five gentlemen, members of the 
Nebraska Legislature, which had just adjourned, took 
seats for the South as the best mode of reaching their 
homes. I never knew whether they lived in Nebraska 
or in Iowa, or Missouri, or some of them in each of the 
three ; but they were Nebraska delegates all the same, 
and had been making laws for that territorv, which 
with its twin, Kansas, was creating no little noise in 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 201 

the political world at that time. I regret that this 
part of my diary and papers were burned in the Chi- 
cago fire of October, 1871, as I had those gentlemen's 
names, residences, et •., all noted, and they were as 
jolly a set of political immigrants as ever pushed out to 
the frontiers in search of office, fame and emoluments. 
Their jolly natures and good patience made our ride 
through mud and water a pleasant one, even in the 
face of many disagreeable features. All the sloughs, 
creeks and rivers were full to overflowing, and when 
we reached the Big Tarkeo, in the north part of Mis- 
souri, it was many hun Ired feet wide, and no means 
of crossing, A little saw-mill near by with a few 
boards and nails gave me the clue to an ex|)ediency, 
which I soon materialized bv constructino: a larire 
skiff or small flat boat, perhaps better known as a lit- 
tle scow. Of course it was a fragile thing two feet 
wide and about twelve feet long made of inch 
boards, except the bottom which was of two-inch 
plank a foot wide, and all put together with com- 
mon tenpenny nails, the largest to be had, in a few 
hours, and caulked with some strips of rags. This 
served to carry our passengers and the two bags of 
mail matter, and also my own luggage. However, 
only two of the solons of law-makers cared to risk 
their valuable lives in so frail a craft, so we had but 
four to carry in it. The stream, as I have said, was 
entirely over its banks, and spread out over the prairie 
on the side we aimed to reach to a long distance, sa}'^ 
over five hundred feet, and to what depth of water no 
one knew, because the water was thick with mud. But 
we could see on the prairie side where the stage road 
and water met, and that was the point to whicli 1 di- 
rected my bark. 



203 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

I made all sit down flat in the scow and per- 
mit mj'self alone to navigate the " concern," as ni}'- 
traveling companions called it. Down through brush. 
and vines, stumps and trees I gradually worked the 
scow, thence, after getting out of the natural river's 
bed, it was clear sailing over the flooded prairie to a 
landing. I was always an expert in a canoe or skiff 
from ten j^ears of age; hence my confldence and suc- 
cess, and I felt sure it was my companions' ignorance 
of this that made them afraid. Scarce had we landed 
when up drove the stage from the south with mails 
and passengers bound for Council Bluffs ; and I was not 
slow in bargaining oft' my improvised scow to those fel- 
lows for seats in their stage, which I knew must turn 
around there and return to St. Joseph. This was done 
in a trice, and before the other fellows had counted noses 
as to competency to navigate the scow back to the 
other shore. Just then one of the most remarkable 
coincidents that ever transpired to me, at least, came to 
pass, in meeting there as one of the passengers of that 
north bound stage, a man born and brought up within a 
mile of where I was, on the French Broad river, near 
Dandridge, east Tennessee, exactly my own age ; his fa- 
ther and mine were cousins, and both had mills on that 
river in sight of each other, and both of us being ex- 
perts in canoes, skiffs, etc. Yet we had both left east 
Tennessee homes twenty years previous and had never 
seen or heard of each other thereafter till this meeting 
at the Tarkeo river. 

We looked at each other for a moment, and I recog- 
nized George Graham's voice when he spoke and said 
he could "navigate" "that scow back over the river," 
I at once stepped up to him, and asked him when he left 



REMINISCE-VCE3 FROM DIARY. 203 

Tennessee. He looked bewildered and I smiled. lie then 
recognized me. The incident I think as stran(]:e as fiction. 
Graham was in hot pursuit of a rascal by the name of 
Williams, who had robbed him of two or three thou- 
sand dollars on a railroad tie contract at Knoxville, 
Tennessee, and had fled to newer territories (the 
usual asylum for rascals in the older States). I never 
heard whether Graham caught his man or not. 

Havino^ shifted our luggage from the scow to the 
stage, and taken seats therein, the driver started south 
towards St. Joseph, and we had a long, hard day's 
pull through deep mud and over creeks full to their 
banks. At a little place called Kock Creek we halted 
for the night, for the roads were so heavy it was scarce 
practicable to travel at night, and the horses were 
about tired out. The next day, to ray surprise and 
great discomfiture, the stage driver said he would not 
drive his team any farther, but would send the mail 
forward on horseback. This, of course, left me, baggage 
and clerk behind, until I could find other transportation 
and this took some liours, but was finally secured in the 
shape of an ox-team, to a little town called Savanna. 
This ox-team, owned and driven by a farmer (for which 
I paid him a five-dollar goId-piece\ jogged along the 
road through mud and water at a steady gait, though 
by no means rapidly, and finally landed me, with bag- 
gage and clerk, at the little town above named, just 
after dark, where we got a good supper, beds, and 
breakfast the following morning ; but while breakfast 
was being prepared I shinned around the town and 
hired a conveyance to St. Joseph, distant, as well as I 
remember, some fifteen miles. This was about the 
12th of March, and luckih^, I found a steamer just up 



204 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

from St. Louis — the first of the season, and she was 
discharging cargo — to return the next morning, so I 
went on board with all ray luggage, and fixed myself 
comfortably in a good stateroom, where I had a pros- 
pect of more rest and comforts than for many months 
before. The next morning, all things being ready, 
the boat turned her prow down the river, and we 
were fully eight days reaching the city of St. Louis 
(dark, smoky, and disagreeable), about the 20th of 
March, 1857, a memorable year for the heavy snow- 
fall all over the frontiers, the intense cold, the loss of 
animal life by freezing all over the Northwest. 

I had some official business to settle in St. Louis 
■with ofHcers there, and I tarried for a couple of days. 
C!olonel Geo. H. Crosman, deputy quartermaster gen- 
eral, had relieved Major Vinton at that depot, and I 
desired to report to Crosman all about things at Fort 
Randall and elsewhere on the upper Missouri river. 
Vinton had left that depot, and Ogden had died since 
I had last been in St. Louis (May, 1855). I stopped 
at the Planters' House, then the only first-class hotel 
in St. Louis, and my room was warmed by a grate 
burning the usual soft coal of that region. 

The first morning I woke I could scarcely speak 
above a whisper, and it grew worse all the while I 
remained, so that when I reached Chicago, about the 
25th of March, I presented about as odd a spectacle as 
one could imagine, not even able to whisper, only 
make signs; yet I had no sore throat or any other ill 
feelings, merely a complete loss of voice, and it was 
two or three weeks before I regained anything near 
my natural voice. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 205 

CHAPTER IX. 



After a fe'.vda3^s with my family in Chicago (which, 
by the w^ay, had been increased since leaving me at Fort 
Pierre in May, 1856, by the birth of a boy in Ciiicago 
October of that year), I left for Washington, where I 
had a pleasant interview^ with the chief of my depart- 
ment, General Jessup, the quartermaster general, the 
same who had made the purchase of old Fort Pierre, 
which had caused so much disappointment and com- 
ment. General Gratiot, too, had died the previous 
year. I had the satisfaction of learning that my 
official report on Fort Pierre had been approved,and that 
all I had stated about it had been fully corroborated 
and verified by subsequent events. I then returned to 
Chicago and attended to some private business, and 
was with my family until the middle of Maj^, when I 
proceeded to Fort Brown, Texas, going by way of St. 
Louis, ]S[ew Orleans, Tndianola and San Antonio, Texas. 
Taking steamer at St. Louis to New Orleans, where 
I waited three days for steamship to Indianola,and was 
then five days making the run from New Orleans to 
the port of Indianola, Texas. At the wharf at Indian- 
ola I met Colonel Henry Bainbridge, of my old regi- 
ment, First Infantry, and with whom my last service in 
the line was at Fort Terrett, on the Llano river, as 
before narrated. Bainbridge was there waiting' the 
loading of the steamer Louisiana, which would carry 
him to New Orleans on his leave of absence. She left 
port that evening, and the second night after she was 
burned off Galveston Island, some twenty -five miles. 
Every soul was lost (save only the captain),and,of course, 
her entire cargo, part of which was five hundred head of 



206 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

cattle. Colonel Bainbriclge and the captain of the 
vessel were the last to leave the burning steamer, which 
the}' did bv lashing some settees together with ropes 
and launching the same at the stern of the ship, tlien 
sliiling themselves down on to the raft of settees over 
the stern. The steamer, meantime, though in flames, 
was steaming ahead ten knots an hour, and the captain 
had turned her prow in direction of Galveston Island, 
so that she might get as near to land as possible before 
the heat should explode her boilers, which he knew 
must occur very soon. 

He and Bainbridge therefore took care to cut the 
raft loose before the explosion occurred. The immense 
lifiht the burnino- ship made was clearlv visible at the 
city of Galveston, and was at once believed to be a 
burning shij) which caused the Galveston sailors to 
start their readiest vessel towards the light. When 
the explosion occurred, of course all light went out, 
and the searching vessel had to guess at her course and 
the place where the light had been seen ; verj^ soon, 
however, they discovered bales of hay, etc., and dur- 
ing the day following, they fell in with the steamer's 
captain and Bainbridge lashed to their raft still float- 
ing. Bainbridge was dead ; but the captain still sur- 
vived, though exhausted and helpless! He it was who 
irave an account of the disaster. The fire was caused 
by a German immigrant smoking his pipe while sitting 
on a ])ile of baled ha}'^ which was carried for feed for 
the large cargo of cattle she had on board. It would 
be difficult to compute the many lives and the millions 
of dollars which have been lost by fires started by 
jpipes and cigars ! 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 207 

To return to m}^ own travels : Leaving Bai abridge 
I was soon on the road from Indianola to San Antonio 
(130 miles distant) in a four-mule ambulance. I was 
again, after the lapse of nearly seven years, on the old 
familiar road, over which I had taken many hundreds of 
wagons loaded with army supplies. I passed the night 
at the little town of Victoria on the Gaudaloupe river. 
It had grown some in the seven years, and was quite a 
flourishing place. Pushing on the next day I made a 
fifty mile drive, and stopped for the night at a new 
ranch which had sprung up since my previous acquaint- 
ance on that road. The next day I reached an old 
stopping place a little after dark, but not intending to 
pass the night there, 1 inquired of the people as to an- 
other stopping place ten miles further on. This stop to 
inquire brought out of the house Maj. Irving McDowell 
(afterwards General McDowell). It appeared that Mc- 
Dowell had his wife and children and nurse witli him, 
en route on a leave of absence from San Antonio to 
Washington City, and he, too, was traveling in a Gov- 
ernment ambulance, but a very rough and uncomfort- 
able one for men, much more so for ladiesand children. 
I had known McDoweU years before, and he told me 
what discomforts he and family had, in the way of 
transportation. I had a most excellent and comfort- 
able ambulance, all to myself, and I gallantly offered 
it to hira in exchange for his, which he was but too 
glad to accept. Making this exchange so delayed me, 
that I only went a couple of miles further to a small 
house and spent the night ; and the next day, drove in 
to San Antonio, and reported in person at the 
oflice of General David E. Twiggs, the comman- 
der of that department. I could have taken 



208 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

Steamer at New Orleans direct to the Rio Grande 
(Fort Brown) which was tlie post I was ordered 
to, and reach the same in about the same time I 
reached Indianoki ; but Twiggs' order required me to 
travel all the way up to San Antonio merely to see my 
face, and to report at his office in person, and let him 
look at me for five minutes, after which I was ordered 
to proceed on to Fort Brown (distant by land 300 
miles); that is, to retrace my course 130 miles back to 
Indianola, there wait indefinitely for some steamer 
going to the Rio Grande. General Twiggs was noth- 
ing if not odd and eccentric. Although rich and 
independent of his army salary, yet he was of a miserly 
nature, and as close as a Jew, of which he had much 
blood. He was called a strict disciplinarian in the 
army, and, in one sense, he was such, but his chief 
characteristic was his cold, cruel, unsympathetic nature. 
He lacked every sentiment or feeling which generally 
belongs to cultivated and elevated human nature. In 
fact, David E. Twiggs was a robust (but not brave) 
representation of a half-tamed animal of the forest in 
human shape. He was, to some extent, the tutor of 
General William S. Harney, who came into the service 
six years after Twiggs did, and both in the same arm 
of service. Twiggs' arbitrary and brutal nature had^ 
from some cause, given him the reputation of being a 
disciplinarian, and Harney's lack of brains and anxiety 
to ape a superior, made him a willing student. But, 
though Harney learned to swear, and to use in the 
must eloquent manner many "cuss words," and also to 
imitate Twiggs in many of his other gross and ungen- 
tlemanlv eccentricities towards soldiers and officers 
whose misfortune it was to be under, and near to him,. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 209 

yet nature had ^iven Harney a less cold and obdurate 
heart than Twiggs possessed. In a moment of passion 
Harney would do and say very cruel things, but when 
his reason returned he felt keenly his wrong-doings 
and was ready to offer such atonement as he could. 
Quite the contrary with Twiggs, who was cold, calcu- 
lating and savage by nature, and as unrelenting as the 
wildest Indian. 

I was not long at General Twigg's office, but got 
ready to take the first stage that night back to Indian- 
ola, there to await a steamer from New Orleans to 
Brazos Island, that is, to the mouth of the Rio Grande, 
thirty miles above which is the military post of Fort 
Brown. In three days a steamer arrived and I got on 
board, and in three more days was landed at my desti- 
nation (Fort Brown) about the last week in June, 1857. 
I found the post a clean, quiet and pleasant place, gar- 
risoned by two companies of artillerv. Large store- 
houses had been erected there during the Mexican 
War (1846 to 1848) and large amounts of army stores 
had necessarily accumulated there, much of it not 
required in time of peace at that or any of the further 
interior posts, that were supplied from Fort Brown. 
Part of m}^ duties, therefore, was to overhaul and 
dispose of those old stores, while doing the current 
duties of the post, and also receive and forward sup- 
plies to other posts, such as Ringgold Barracks, 200 
miles higher up the river, and Fort Mcintosh, 300 
miles further up, on the Rio Grande. 

I soon became familiar with the '• lay of the land," 
and it now being close on to July, I realized that I was 
in latitude twenty-six degrees instead of forty-two de- 
grees. I had left my clerk, Mr. John Ring, in St. 

14 



210 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

Louis until I should locate m3^self, and I wrote to him 
to join me, which he did late in August. 

The garrison consisted of the two companies (or 
rather parts of two companies) and ver\^ agreeable 
officers, some with families. Brevet Lieutenant-Colo- 
nel Francis Ta^'lor, of the First Eegiment of Artillery 
was post commander; Surgeon, W. S. King; Captain, 
S. K. Dawson; Lieutenant, L. O. Morris; and Lieu- 
tenant L. L. Langdon. I believe all were of the First 
Artillery. Major Giles Porter was also stopping at the 
post, but not on duty. Colonel Taylor had two grown 
daughters, who kept house for him (their mother be- 
ing deceased); Surgeon King had a lovely family 
(wife and three daughters, two grown) ; Captain Daw- 
son, wife and child (daughter just entering her teens) ; 
and Lieutenant Morris and wife. The entire garrison 
were exceedingly social, hospitable and agreeable. I 
soon got the run of things at the post, and began to 
put in order one of the vacant set of quarters for my 
abode. About the rirst thing to be done was to en- 
close or encase all openings (doors and windows) with 
mosquito netting, to keep out the millions of those pes- 
tiferous insects which, in that region, swarm the year 
round. I had left my wife and two children in Chi- 
cago, not daring to take them so far south so early in 
the summer, intending, however, if I should remain 
tiiere, to have them join me in the autumn. Of my 
permanency at that post I was not assured, although 
given to understand in Washington that I would not 
soon be disturbed, and that my long term of duty in 
the north would entitle me to quietude for a couple of 
years at least. Finding the quarters there comfortable, 
and the ladies and s'entleraen of the garrison all agree- 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 211 

ble, I determined to write my wife to get ready to join 
me with tiie children later in the autumn, and named 
about the 25th of Septeii\ber, when 1 would meet 
her in JMew Orleans. With this view I wrote to 
General Twiggs, assistant adjutant-general at San 
Antonio, and requested twenty days' leave of ab- 
sence for the express purpose of allowing me to 
take a return steamer at Brazos to New Orleans, 
there meet my family, and take the next steamer 
Avith them for Brazos. Not then being fully aware 
of the brutal, sinister character of Twiggs, I had no 
doubt whatever but my request would be granted, and 
therefore rested quiet in ihe Cull expectation of getting 
by return mail the leave I asked for. Our mail was by 
land nearly three hundred miles on horseback between 
P'oi't Brown and San Antonio, and required eight to 
twelve days time, according to the caution the rider 
had to exercise on account of hostile Indians. 

Our mail arrived September 15, and what was my 
surprise to receive in it my original application for 
leave returned to me with the endorsement : " Must he 
■i<ent through theproper rhannd. By order of General 
Ttinggs.'"' The meaning of this was, thai my applica- 
tion should have been sent through the chief quarter- 
master at San Antonio, whose office u^as not five hun- 
dred yards from Twiggs' office ! That officer had 
arrived there subsequent to my visit to' San Antonio, 
and of which I had no knowledge, and Twiggs knew 
the fact, and hence he could in fifteen minutes have 
had my application presented to that officer, and then 
made his order either granting or refusing the leave, 
and let it come to me by the mail that broug^ht me his 
cold-blooded endorsement. This, however, would not 



212 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

meet Twiggs' sinister mode of inflicting pain, and 
especiall}'' disappointment to a subaltern, and if there 
is any labor that '• old Twiggs " ever did perform on 
this green earth, it was in devising waj^s and means to 
inflict misery and bring misfortune on the oflicer& 
under him, unless he excepted some favorite of 
'' Georgia " (Twiggs' native State). The arrival 
of the mail September 15 rendered it impossible 
for me to get a communication back to San Antonio 
and return in time to take a steamer and meet my 
family in New Orleans, as agreed on. I was, therefore, 
in a dilemma. My wife, I knew, had started from 
Chicago, taking steamer at St. Louis, and would be 
in New Orleans as directed, and, not finding me 
there, or any word from me, she would be at a loss- 
what to do. She was entirely unaccustomed to travel 
alone, and besides, had the children and a nurse with 
her. She would be in a strange city, not knowing 
a soul to speak to, and at a hotel, not knowing- 
what to do or expect. Twiggs knew from my letter 
of application that I had calculated and timed my- 
self in the matter so as to take the only steamer on 
the line, to meet my family on the 25th of September^ 
and he well knew that it was impossible for me to get 
a return from a second application in time. The cold 
brutality of his nature, as thus exemplified, made me 
mad. I appealed to Colonel Taylor, the post com- 
mander, to give me ten days' leave, which he had the 
power to extend to officers under his immediate com- 
mand, and that would at least allow me to reach New 
Orleans, and I would then t^ke my chances as to a 
return. Having this in my favor, I then added another 
application for leave to the one with Twiggs' endorse- 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 213 

merit, and sent the whole through the chief quarter- 
master in San Antonio. I did this so that my chief 
of department might see what a disappointment 
Twiggs had clearly intended to inflict on me, and 
having mailed this, I took the steamer I had 
first intended and arrived at New Orleans on time, 
where I found my wife (at the St. Charles hotel) with 
both children sick, one of them ver^y sick. She had 
ascertained that Surgeon J. B. Porter of the array was 
stationed in that city, and called him in to attend the 
children. I waited and nursed the children till they 
were able to travel, and then took steamer to Galves- 
ton — no farther, because that steamer was not going 
to Brazos, so we had to wait over one week at Gal- 
veston for another steamer to touch there, which 
would make the entire trip to Brazos. These delnys I 
reported to Colonel Taylor at Brownsville by the land 
horse mail, who was therefore fully apprised of the 
cause of my delay. Meanwhile my second application 
through ''the proper channel" had made its rounds, 
and Twiggs had found the i's dotted and the t's crossed 
and the red tape duly attached, and had granted the 
twenty days' leave, to take effect "at such time as the 
post commander authorized." This, of course, gave 
Colonel Taylor all the authority he could desire. It 
was far into October before I finally reached Brazos, 
and when the steamer arrived at the offing, a severe 
Norther was blowing, so that the captain would not 
attempt to cross the bar with his vessel. After beating 
about half a day, I determined to avail myself of the 
■" lighter," a river steamer running up the Rio Grande, 
but built also for sea service and used as a lighter 
to receive freight and passengers directly from the 



214 liEMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

large steamers, when the latter couhl not take the 
hazard of crossing the bar. Tliis was a trying ordeal 
for my wife, for we had to l)e launched aboard the small 
river steamer bv a swino-ino- basket from the deck of 
the ship, and it was to a novice a fearful performance. 
'' All's well that ends well." however, and we wei'e 
safely deposited on the little steamer's deck, followed 
bv our bas'iia<2e, babies and nurse, and the same dav we 
were landed at Fort Brown. The children improved 
rapidly on leaving New Orleans. The sea air on ship- 
board, and while on Galveston Island, seemed to build 
them up rapidly. The children consisted of Emma 
Gertrude, my eldest, at that. time two and one-half 
years, the other one, George, just a year old. 

I had put my quarters in order before leaving for 
New Orleans, so that we had no delay in getting to 
housekeeping, especially as wife had brought with her 
a cook, as well as nurse, and by the first of November we 
u'ere all comfortably housed on the bank of the Rio 
Grande in latitude twenty-six degrees, two thousand 
miles from where the family were living sixty days 
before in latitude fortj'^-two degrees. Nothing unusual 
occurred during the nominal winter months, though 
there is little winter in that latitude as we understand 
winterin the North :and the spring on lower Rio Grande 
beo'insin Janu;irv or Februarv at furthest. The entire 
garrison of ladies and irentlemen received uskindlv and 
hospitably, and the adjoining town of Brownsville con- 
tained a Presbyterian and Episcopal church, which 
families of officers attended according to religious 
bias. My family had excellent health, and the two 
children especially, so that we had settled down to 
contentment and a feelino; of confidence that we would 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 215 

be stationary for a year or two at least. Wiieii March 
came in, however, it brought the sound of alarm and 
orders from the War Department for me to close up 
and turn over to some other officer my duties there, 
and repair to Fort Leavenworth, to take charge of the 
quartermaster's duties with troops and supplies destined 
for Utah. Colonel Albert S. Johnson had gone to 
Utah with troops in the fall and winter of 1857, 
had passed the winter at Fort Bridger (about 
one hundred miles east of Salt Lake City) and 
was in need of reinforcements. Large amounts of 
supplies were being collected and transportation pre- 
pared at the military depot, Fort Leavenworth, and 
I was the ever available pack-horse, to be assigned to. 
that duty. Other officers in the East had been detailed 
for that service, but political favoritism had got them 
excused from it. My first business was of course to break 
up housekeeping, sell off all household affairs, for noth- 
ing would bear transportation north where such things 
were half the price they were at Brownviile, and then 
take the first steamer at Brazos Island for Kew Orleans 
with my family. In the meanwhile, early in the 
spring, my clerk, Mr. John Ring, had died of a conges- 
ted liver after much suffering. I attended to his eveiy 
want during his sickness in the clean, comfortable 
military hospital, only a few rods from my house. Mr. 
Ring had been a faithful and efficient clerk with me 
for two years. He was a young, educated Irishman, 
emigrated to this country and enlisted in the First Regi- 
ment of Dragoons in 1850, where he served faithfuU}'' 
five 3'ears and was honorably discharged as the First 
Sergeant of his company at Fort Pierre in 1855. Before 
his death he gave me his mother's address in Ireland, 



216 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY 

and desired certain of his savings in money to be 
remitted to her. While in St. Louis (waiting to join 
me at Fort Brown), he invested something like two 
thousand dollars of his years of savings with Loker, 
Remick it Co., bankers, and I think he made Mr. Jerry 
Galvan, a merchant in Brownsville, his agent and 
executor to look after and collect that investment, and 
send it to his mother. I never learned whether or not 
the money was collected, but I doubt if it ever was, as 
those bankers failed soon after. I do not believe they 
ever paid their liabilities. He bequeathed $300 to Mrs. 
Turnley in thankful acknowledgment for kindness she 
extended to him during his sickness and the two years 
he was with me as clerk, and 8100 to the officiating 
priest in Brownsville. I hastily closed up all my 
aflPairs, sold off all household effects at auction (engag- 
ing one of the village auctioneers for the purpose). 
The sale took place Friday. April ir>, 1S5S, and the 
next day I left for Brazos Island with my family in 
the ambulance, where the steamship bound for New 
Orleans was g-etting readv to start. Sundav. the ISth, 
we went on board, having passed the previous night at 
the house of Captain Benjamin F. Moses, who was the 
quartermaster's agent, residing on the island. He and 
his wife were exceedingly kmd, and did everything to 
make us comfortable. Captain Moses and wife subse- 
quentlv located in Kew Orleans, and still later he died, 
but his widow, at last accounts, was living. I have 
seldom met through life's travel two more kind and 
benevolent characters than were Captain Moses and 
his wife. They were both Jews of great probity. On 
Monday, April 19tb, our steamer sailed for Kew 
Orleans, and arrived there on Sunday morning, April 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 217 

^5th, after a run of about six hundred miles, all in good 
health, without accident. My first business was to find 
a river steamer ready to start up the Mississippi. I 
traversed the levee for an hour, but failed to find one 
ready to start that promised comfort and speed. 
One old steamer had her sign up to leave for 
Louisville, Ky., and '■'■ j^rhajy-H to Cincinnati." She was 
•a fast runner, though old, and with only ordinary ac- 
-commodations ; but, it was the best offering for some 
days to come, and I engaged stateroom, and took my 
family on board, and she got off some time Sunday 
night while we were asleep. By going direct from the 
steamship to the boat we saved the expenses of hotel 
and a double transfer of baggage, which for a family 
in New Orleans was no small item. Of course we had 
one entire stateroom for wife, self and two children, 
with a convenient bertli for the nurse and cook, and 
the time to reach Louisville was stated to be from six 
to ten days according to " wind and weather." The 
weather was pleasant and reasonably warm, and the 
■boat was pushed to the full speed of steam power, 
and every day I spent an hour or more promenading 
on her hurricane deck for the better view the river 
shores. I also discovered that around her smokestacks 
the deck became intensely hot, while the sparks from 
the top of the same often fell in great profusion all 
over the deck. I also noticed in man}' places scorched 
or burned spots on the deck, caused by these sparks. 
This made me a little nervous — the more so because I 
never saw any officer or employe about on the deck 
ready, if necessary, to put out any fire that might 
ignite; so I ventured one day to speak to the captain 
■on the subject, and we both went up on to the deck 



218 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

where I pointed out burned spots, which showed what 
might be possible. He onh' laughed at it. and said 
such things were of daily occurrence; "but," said he,, 
''the sanded, painted canvass covering would not 
burn/' So he silenced me, although I did not believe 
what he said was true, and I soon had proof of it, for 
one day I was walking the deck and the boat under 
full headway, with all steam on, and the smokestacks- 
piping hot, with great volumes of sparks and cinders 
llvintr in all directions, when suddenly a blaze was 
started almost under my feet. I called to the pilot,, 
close by in the "texas" (the name of the little house 
where the wheel is) and he rang a bell, which brought 
a man in a hurry. Fortunately there were distributed 
all around the hurricane deck buckets filled with 
water, and the man soon put out the blaze and then 
proceeded to thoroughly wet the roof all over as a 
preventative. I lost my confidence, however, in the 
safety of that boat, as also in the reliability of the 
captain, and I maiie up my mind to leave her just as 
soon as I could reach a place where I could get the 
cars or a safer boat. In this uneasy state of mind, I 
passed the days and nights until we reached Evans- 
ville, Indiana, arriving there about daylight on Sunday 
morning, the second day of May (forfeiting willingly 
the price of the balance of the way up to Louisville), 
Taking the cars for Cincinnati the next day, we were 
tired enough to seek a little rest at the Burnett House^ 
Little Georgie, my youngest, had not been well for 
some davs on the boat, and Iwasglad to get him where 
I could have a doctor's advice. After a night and one 
day's rest, however, we resumed our journey to Phila- 
delphia, where we arrived in about forty hours, at the 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 21& 

St. Lawrence Hotel, where Dr. Rutter and family had 
been living the previous winter. Dr. Kiitter 
(my wife's father) had been apprised of our coming, 
and had already rented for six months a furnished res- 
idence a mile below Pottstown, Pa.,for the summer; and 
after resting a day or two in Philadelphia, we all went 
to that residence, and I hastily fixed wife and children 
there for the summer. This completed, I left the Stli 
of May for Fort Leavenworth, via St. Louis. Before 
leaving Pottstown, however, old Major Brooke, a 
brother-in-law of Dr. Rutter, called on me, and asked 
me if I could not take his son, John R. Brooke, with 
me, to see the world a little, and especially to see the 
great wild Vv^est. He was about eicjhteen vears- 
old and wanted to go. I assented, and he soon had 
him partly read 3^ ; and completed his outfit as we 
passed through Philadelphia. Reaching St. Louis, 1 
met my brother, L. G. Turnley, though only for half 
an hour, at the railway station, and then took cars ta 
Jefferson City, and there took boat to Leavenworth. 
At Fort Leavenworth I found everything was confus- 
ion and hurry. The supply trains for Utah were being 
loaded and put in ''park" (of one hundred wagons in 
each train), at favorable points from live to ten miles^ 
from the post ; and besides this, about one hundred 
army six mule teams were being got ready and loaded 
to carry troops' supplies and baggage designed to le- 
enforce Johnston's command in Utah which had 
wintered at the old Fort Bridger. These re-enforce- 
ments were divided into four marching columns for 
convenience of grass and water, and were to march 
one or more days apart. General Ilarne}', however, 
was to command the whole, while Major AVm. H. Em- 



^20 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

ory of the cavalry was the commander of the column 
to which 1 was assigned. 

I was detained at Fort Leavenworth several days 
getting things ready for so long a trip. While thus 
waiting, I was looking out for a competent clerk. 
Young Brooke was a good, reliable boy, but not capable 
of filling the place of clerk in my department. By 
sheer accident one day, I met on the street at Leaven- 
worth a young man who was then seeking a position 
in some expedition bound for the West. His name was 
Frank D. Cleary, a native of and directly from Wash- 
in o-ton City. He was bright, intelligent and apparently 
old enough to appreciate responsibility. We very 
soon came to an understanding and T employed him 
as a clerk to accompany me. Two or three days 
sufficed for him to get his necessary blankets and 
clothinof tooether and we all started for our first 
encampment on the long march toward Utah by way 
of Fort Kearney, Fort Laramie, the South Pass and 
Fort Bridger, a trip of 1,300 miles. Our movement 
was slow, tedious and monotonous for many days. 
Our commander. Colonel Emory, was not specially 
attractive nor congenial, and we were by no means 
sorry when, at Fort Kearney, Emory was switched off 
southward to make a scout with the cavalry part of 
his command on the Republican fork, south of the 
Piatt river. 

Johnston's advance to Bridger in the fall and win- 
ter of 1857, and these re-enforcements in the spring of 
1858 constituted what is known in military history as the 
" Utah expedition,'' and its object was to put a stop 
to the alleged outrages and crimes practiced by the 
Mormon church officials on the numerous emigrants 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 221 

annually passing from the East overland to the Pacific 
States and Territories. Why it was that General 
Johnston stopped for the winter at Fort Bridger has 
never been clearly explained outside of the secret 
records of the War Department, although it was a fact 
that he arrived at Bridger late in the autumn or 
winter, with his animals in a poor condition and with 
very limited supplies; and the valleys and table lands 
and grassy bottoms about Bridger, and along Hams 
fork and branches, furnished better feed for the many 
hundreds of mules, horses and beef cattle with John- 
ston's command than could be had even in Salt Lake 
valle}'', which is one hundred and twenty miles further 
on. Johnston's only route from Bridger to Salt Lake 
City and the valley was through the tortuous narrow 
gorge called "Echo Canon," which is one of the grand 
curiosities met with east of the main Wasach range 
of mountains. Leaving Bridger the route is rough, 
hill}' and difficult, and crosses Bear river, which offers 
some obstructions to loaded teams. Tnence on to the 
plateau or divide one reaches the head of the noted 
caiion. This canon is emphatically a huge gorge of 
sixteen miles in length, descending on a moderate 
incline to the southeast, where it debouches into Weber 
river. The road winds along the base of the high 
mountainous sides, crossing frequentl}' the bottom, or 
water-way, of this gorge, the valley of which varies in 
wndth from one or two hundred to five hundred feet, 
and some four or five miles from its junction with 
Weber river, where it is narrow and difficult to pass. 
The Mormon militia, General Daniel H. Wells in com- 
mand, had during the previous summer barricaded Ihia 
passage with earthworks, and built dams across the 



223 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

creek to create deep and impassable fords of water. 
Johnston knew all about these obstructions, and how 
far it influenced him in |)assing the winter at Bridger, 
he alone could tell. But, with my later and better 
knowledge of his timidity and caution, I have no doubt 
such was really one main cause of his failing to push 
on to the Utah valley the previous winter, instead of 
pitching his tents at Bridger. Johnston, I know, 
has been accounted an able general, and so he was 
in some things, but he was greatly lacking in many 
of the essentials of a commander. In fact, all the 
breastworks General Wells could have erected in 
a year in that canon need not liave retarded John- 
ston's march down that narrow gorge three hours ; be- 
cause, the towering peaks on either side afforded ample 
cover for sharp-shooters to have given a plunging fire 
in the works at an angle of fort^'^-five degrees, if de- 
sired. To Johnston's want of apparent activity, how- 
ever, we must also suppose he was to a degree gov- 
erned by instructions from Washington. A State's 
Rights administration was in power at the time, and 
the Puritan Brigham was as shrewd in a political war 
as in political religion, and quoted the Cavalier State's 
doctrine to the War Department as a Constitut ional bar- 
rier to any coercive measures. This, undoubtedly, caused 
a halt short of any severe pressure against Brigham. 
Brigham Young was Mormonism, and Brigham Young 
ownedUtah and all the people therein, who were his will- 
ing and obedient serfs. His serf slavery was more dear 
to iiim (because more profitable) than was bond slavery 
to the State's Rights owners of it in the South. It was 
more profitable because it was less expensive, and gave 
better tribute in return — a tribute in actual cash tithes, 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARV. 223 

with no responsibility for feeding, clothing and 
care and sickness in old age, which the bond slave 
required. The Morniom serfs have all these re- 
sponsibilities themselves, while their master, Brig- 
ham, received the cash tribute of their toil. It niav 
properly here be stated that Brigham Young- was one 
of the most able men in religious cunning, and possi- 
bilities ever produced in this country I To the extreme 
avarice of the most grasping nature, he also added 
the subtle cunning of the Jesuit. He most 
carefully cloaked his whole action in the garb of 
deepest Puritanical piety. Never did a Puritan 
leave England for Holland, or leave Holland for that 
*• Kock " who had half his cunning. Like the cunning, 
astute Koundhead, he never lost sight of the main 
chance, wiiile he made his victims feel grateful for sav- 
ing their souls. Brigham Young, even greater than 
Oliver Cromwell, was never troubled with anv prick- 
ing of conscience, for the simple reason he admitted 
no conscience within his mental or spiritual storehouse. 
he was childlike and bland, gentle and winning, 
. shrewder tlian any serpent, but was never rouoh nor 
boisterous, yet always tlrew your heart's life blood 
through a silver tube. He was the highest type of the 
religious— his religion being always in his breeches 
pocket, deeply, fervently and securely. His piety was 
marvellous ; it was ceaseless and irresistible ; it braced 
its feet against the gates of hell, and reached its hands 
toward heaven while it drew its inspiration from — 
just below his breeches i)ocket^ but close enough thereto 
to hold communion with increasiiKj revenues. 

Johnston's delay and halting action gave time 
for the Mormons to cool down, and for Brigham to 



224 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

throw out new bait to his serfs. Johnston finally 
moved over the range into Salt Lake valley in the 
spring of 1S5S, but made no halt at Salt Lake City.. 
He moved on with his command forty miles south, 
and selected a permanent site ten miles west of Lake 
Utah, for a camp, which he christened " Camp Floyd," 
where he at once began to erect quarters, storehouses 
and shops for a permanent occupation of that distant 
territory. This occupancy by U. S. troops was a thorn 
in Brigliam Young's side. 

But, to return to my own movements. Leaving Fort 
Leavenworth late in May, or, in fact, about the first of 
June, the column I was with moved by slow marches to 
Fort Kearney on the Platte river, a distance of about 
three hundred miles, and we there learned that a con- 
flict with the Mormon forces vras by no means immi- 
nent, and that all of the re-enforcements then enroute 
would not be required. Major Emory and the cavalry 
portion of his column were turned into the direction of 
the Republican fork, to make an Indian expedition, 
while the infantry portion was continued on to Utah 
under the command of Major Gabriel R. Paul, of the 
Seventh infantry. I continued with this column, and 
was not a little delighted at the change in commanders. 
Major Paul was a quiet, practical, experienced cam- 
paigner, was a graduate of West Point in class of 
1834, and had served almost continually with his com- 
pany on the frontiers and in Florida for twenty-four 
years, was thoroughly conversant with those methods 
of campaigning which best preserved the men 
and animals, and was one of the most sociable 
and entertaining men I ever served with. He was a 
native of St. Louis, Missouri, of highly respectable 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 225 

French family ; entered "West Point when a boy, and 
while he had that ease and suavity of manner so 
characteristic of the French, he also had that deep 
sense of honor, propriety and uprightness of life which 
belongs to the true Christian gentleman. In great 
contrast to Major Paul I am sorry to place Major W. 
H. Emory, who is also a West Point graduate (of 1831) 
and stood high in his class as a student, but he was 
vain and selfish, of crude manners, in fact harsh, 
dictatorial, and exacting toward those under him. He 
came of a Maryland family, and the same have always 
commanded that political and other influence which 
screened them from the drudgery of the service. This 
escape from a due portion of the rough frontier service 
on the part of favored officers has always and will con- 
tinue to exist, of course, to a greater or less extent. It 
forms what we may designate the " Sax-Coberg " class. 
But sometimes it becomes almost unbearable. As all 
government in this world is created and carried on for 
the special benefit of the few who manage it, so is the 
army of a nation managed in such wise as to care 
mainly for the favored few. The United States Gov- 
ernment and army form no exception. 

It was a pleasant sight to see Major Emory with 
his portion of the column move off to the south- 
Avard, from our camp on the Platte river, a few miles 
West of Fort Kearney, and leave the rest of us there- 
after to make our march toward Utah under the 
command of Major Paul. Before leaving Fort Leaven 
worth, as before stated, I had employed ^Mr. Frank 
D. Cleary as a clerk, who, with young Brooke, 
formed part of my private mess, and even they, 
although civilians, felt all the relief and joy that 



236 REMINISCEXCES FROM DIARY. 

the officers did at tlie happy change in commanders. 
Our dail}" marches were resumed, moving up the 
soutli side of Platte river for a long distance, as 
well as I now remember, over two hundred miles, 
to a place where we could safely cross our loaded 
wagons. The Platte river is a wide though not deep 
river, but has a quicksand bottom at most places, 
which makes it difficult, as well as dangerous, to 
attempt a crossing with animals and wheels. The 
place we crossed was known as Julesburgh, afterward 
named Camp Word well. After crossing the Platte our 
route lay northwest over the backbone, or divide, 
between the north and south branches of the Platte, 
through what was known as "Ash Hollow," then down 
the slope to the valley of the North Platte, then up that 
river to Fort Laramie. After a few days rest and 
repairs at Fort Laramie, we continued our route 
on to the Sweet Water, and up that stream to the 
South Pass, thence on to the Green river, and to 
Fort Bridger, where we arrived about the 25th of 
September, 185S. It was a long and tedious trip, and 
we failed to receive any letters from home and friends 
after leaving Fort Leavenworth in May. The cause of 
this was to us unknown and inexplicable, because we 
received official letters from Leavenworth every few 
days. It was not till we got to Bridger that we 
learned how neglectful of us the depot quartermaster 
at Leavenworth had been. There was a weekly stage, 
carrying the mails between Leavenworth and Salt 
Lake, and it passed, and met, our column weekly, and 
it was discovered that the officials at Leavenworth had 
paid no attention to our letters, but allowed them to 
be put in the Salt Lake mail bags, and they were thus 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 227 

carried right past our camps weekly on to Salt Lake 
Oit\% and thus accumulated all summer! Our friends at 
home were more fortunate, because we sent weekly 
horseback express back to Leavenworth, or put our 
letters in the Utah mail as it passed us for Leaven- 
worth, and every one wishing to do so sent letters by it 
to be mailed at Leavenworth to all points in the States. 
In this way our families in the States knew of our 
progress, though we got no word from them. Learning 
at Bridger that our mail matter had accumulated at Salt 
Lake all summer, we ordered it returned to us, and by 
the last of Sejitember I had some twenty-five or thirty 
private letters from my wife and friends, dating back 
from May to September ! I then learned that in August 
a third child (a daughter) had been born to me at Potts- 
town, and later letters had the comforting news that 
all were doing well. I was ordered to stop at Bridger 
and erect quarters and storehouses necessary for two 
companies as a permanent garrison. Colonel E, R S. 
Oanby was there in command ; and Major Paul was to 
continue on with his command to join the forces with 
General Johnston. Thus we parted, and I began at 
once to prepai'e for the work assigned me. 



CHAPTER X. 



This, however, was soon changed, and I received 
orders by express, the 1st of November, to report 
without delay at Johnston's headquarters, forty miles 
south of Salt Lake City, Meanwhile five inches of 
snow had fallen, and I had one hundred and twenty 
miles to go through and over the mountains (the iden- 



328 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

tical route which Johnston did not venture to take his 
troops over the previous winter). I soon got up two 
six-mule teams and an escort of one corporal and four 
men, with my luggage rations, etc., and started. I 
was six days making the trip to Salt Lake City, and 
arrived there at noon with a severe chill on me, and 
scarcely able to sit on my horse. I halted ray caval- 
cade near the store of Messrs. Gilbert & Gerish, and 
the men got dinner, while I entered the warm store to 
inquire for a doctor. I was '&i\\\forUj miles from Gen- 
eral Johnston's headquarters, and very sick and in 
need of medicine; but no doctor was to be had, so I 
had to prescribe for n^yself, and after an hour's rest^ 
and oettino: some medicines, moved on south ten miles, 
and camped in the main road by a farmer's house. 
The next day I moved on twenty miles, and crossed 
the Jordan river, and camped just on the opposite bank 
in a quiet, warm little valley. I had another 
severe chill that day, and I made up my 
mind to fix my tent comfortable for a few 
days stay at the place. I had water warmed in camp 
kettles, and put into the horse buckets, bathed my feet 
in my tent for an hour. My bed was made nicely by 
my servant on the dry grass-covered ground, and about 
9 p. M. I took eight grains of calomel and turned in 
for the night. Next morning I took a heavy dose of 
oil and kept in bed all day, and after dark bathed my 
feet again, and went to bed. The following day I felt 
pretty well " considering" and about 9 a. m. struck 
tents and made the last march to General Johnston's 
headquarters called Camp Floyd. I found on arrival a 
discouraging field of labor. The transportation used 
by Johnston the previous autumn from Fort 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 229 

Leavenworth, as likewise that used during the summer 
of 1858 to move ihe re-enforcements and supplies to 
that point, was still retained, and comprised about 
tiiree hundred six-mule teams and wagons, each having 
a hired citizen teamster emploj^ed at $30 per month 
and a ration per day, and twenty-five wagon-masters 
at $60 per month, with as many assistant wagon- 
masters at $45 per month. None of these employes 
had been paid since leaving Leavenworth, the two 
thousand mules had to be wintered and cared for, yet 
not more than fifty wagons and teams were really 
required for all purposes of the post, because the whole 
•command, consisting of portions of the Fifth, Seventh 
and Tenth Infantry, the Second dragoons and a battery 
•of artillery, did not in all exceed twenty-five hundred 
rank and file. During July and August, Johnston had 
the command make sun-dried brick, called the " adobe," 
and nearly every company had its quarters under roof, 
as likewise quarters for the officers. Col. Geo H. Cros- 
man, a deputy quartermaster-general, had arrived and 
joined General Johnston as his chief in that department 
of the service, and one assistant quartermaster. Captain 
Geo. H. Paige, was there as the principal executive 
officer in the department under Crosraan. Captain 
Paige, however, as it appeared, was unfortunate in his 
cravmg for liquor, and was unfitted for the great 
amount of work before him ; and it was in part owing 
to his incompetency that so much transportation had 
been allowed to accumulate, and so many employes 
retained on the rolls ; at least, this was the complaint 
made by General Johnston, and Colonel Crosraan, 
who, as chief in authority, would seem to be equally 
culpable ; and it was to secure a competent, practical 



2S0 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

and business officer at that place, that caused me to be 
ordered there. This selection was much more compli- 
mentarv to me than the change, and tlie duties, was 
agreeable. The service rolls of that army of employes 
were in a most confused condition, while the invoices 
and returns of all public property were in even a worse 
condition. Colonel Crosman was a nervous, fussy, 
critical chief, without much method and less patience. 
Johnston was quiet, composed, and the personification 
of dio'nitv, though in fact more practical than his chief 
quartermaster, Crosman ; while his rank as chief in 
command rather required that he defer to Crosman in 
matters entirely within the quartermaster's department, 
I soon took in the situation of affairs and would most 
o'ladlv have accepted the place of one of the iiumblo 
teamsters, to avoid shouldering the load there waiting 
me. I had two clerks Avith me — Mr. F. D. Cleary and 
John R. Brooke, as before mentioned ; the first-named 
a most competent penman and accountant ; the second 
not so good, though patient and willing to learn. I at 
once put them to work straightening out the rolls of 
emploves. I hired other competent men (some from 
the enlisted ranks and some who had got their dis- 
charge), to tackle the labyrinth of property accounts. 
This left me at liberty to spend more of my time out 
of doors supervising the completion of quarters, the 
erection of hospital, storehouses and blacksmith. car})en- 
ter's, wheelwright and harness shops. Also I scoured 
the country for twenty-five miles around, in the valleys. 
and foothills, to find the best winter grazing for tlie 
large number of mules. Stabling, also, had to be erec- 
ted for five hundred dragoon and artillery horses. This 
kept me more tlmn busy all the winter, nor did the 



REMINISCENX'ES FROM DIARY. 231 

spring and summer bring much relief. I advertised m 
printed hand-bills, put up at various towns, villages and 
settlements, for wheat, barley and oats, to feed the 
animals, wheat and barley being the principal depen- 
dence for this purpose. The Mormon Moses (Brighara 
Young, the Puritan Christ), all the way from that '"Rock" 
had published an edict that no Mormon should put in 
a bid, or supply anything the army required. How- 
ever, I got three bids, one offering to supply wheat and 
barley at sixteen dollars per bushel, and one at fourteen 
dollars; the third at thirteen dollars per bushel. Of 
course I did not accept any of the bids. I learned 
afterward that the three bids put in were all Brigham 
Young's bids, but in other than his own name. Brig- 
hara was immensely rich, owned in fact everything in 
the territory, under cover of being head of the 
Church or, we may say, Pope of all the faithful ! That 
was the first illustration in the United States of a Pope 
claiming and exercising tevipond as well as spiritual 
powers. But I again had our little printing press we had 
taken out with us, called the " Yalleyton," strike off a 
thousand hand-bills, 6x 10 inches, and I sent out men 
prepared with hammer, tacks, paste and brush to put 
up these bills at every settlement, farm house and 
cross-road, stating in the bills that I would pa}', in 
gold, on deliver}^ the following prices : 

For Barley, $2,50 per bushel, about 5c a pound. 

For Wheat, $2.50 per bushel, about 4c a pound. 

For Oats, $1.50 per bushel, ?about 5c a pound. 

For Straw, for bedding, $12.00 per ton. 

For Hay, for animals, $20.00 per ton. 
Brigham Young was much vexed at this when he 
learned it, but still supposed his faithful subjects would 



232 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

Stand firm on his Plymouth Puritan Rock, and resist 
all temptations of gold. But for once Brigham got 
left. The strangest thing was that Brigham should 
have supposed his subjects less inclined to get gold 
than himself. I made visits to several thrifty Scotch 
and English farmers, also one or two Danes and staid 
all night in their houses and we talked over the State 
aflPairs, I talked to them in a manner about their 
Moses Brigham which amazed them no little. 1 told 
them how I had known Brigham Young long before 
they had ever heard of him, and when he was only a 
smart, wild, young fellow, bent only on money and 
women. I told them Brigham Young was one of the 
smartest men out of State's prison, but who ought to 
be in it, that his entire pretense of religion was a 
Yankee scheme to accumulate money, and to do this 
he took the method he felt sure would secure the 
attachment and loyalty of those whose natural inclina- 
tions were flattered and approved. I closed by telling 
them (especially the old Englishman and Scotchman) 
to load their wagons and haul into my storehouses all 
the grain, hay and straw they could spare or purchase. 
It is not strange when you consider their nationality 
and their level-headed character for business, that they 
soon decided to follow my advice. In a few days 
they drove twelve miles to the post with loads of grain, 
had it weio^hed and o^ot their '"gold cash." In a few 
days more they came in with a ton of hay on each 
wagon and got their pay. This broke the ice and also 
broke Brigham Young's ^;vj9 on the credulous populace 
he had so thoroughly controlled and governed ! 

I never enjoyed any achievement or success so 
much as I did Brigham Young's disappointment at the 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 283 

•delivery of hay, straw and grain by his subjects for our 
use at that post. 

It was not long before many of the farmers began 
to drive their teams loaded with hay and grain to my 
store-houses, and I had no further difficulty in purchas- 
ing, in open market, at reasonable prices, all forage, 
fuel, etc., required. Thus was achieved a bloodless 
victory over that wily and most astute schemer and 
religious fraud our country has ever produced ! Mr. 
Brigham Young was a native of New Hampshire — a 
growth of New York and a developed master of the 
wild West. 

During my two years of army service in Utah and 
adjacent region I must have received a score of letters 
from acquaintances, in all parts of the United States, 
asking me to explain the Mormon religion; and how 
it differed from our professed Christian religion. I 
•did not then have the time or material at hand, to 
answer those inquiries; nor have I ever since felt interest 
enough in that clap trap delusion to take the trouble 
to explain the fraud of leaders, or the infatuation of 
followers. It occurs to me, however, that it may be 
useful and instructive to many outside, as well as inside, 
of the influence of Morraonism, as a religion, for me to 
give a brief statement of its origin, and some of its 
practices, falsehoods, and crimes as well! 1 shall onlv 
give categorical statements of facts, and readers can 
draw thier own conclusions. Of course, all religion is 
a sentiment, pure and simple, when sincerely enter- 
tained ! The Christian religion is no exception to 
this ! 

To begin at the very initial point, we must go 
•back to 1832-1836, when that shrewd gambler. 



234 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

counterfeiter, and horse-thief, a Mr. Joseph Smith,, 
sprung- his three-card-monte trick on the public (with 
the help of a few well-selected aiders and abettors) with 
his Golden Plates! 

They were careful never to give dates or places in 
their certificates, affidavits, and pretendedly sworn 
statements ; but they were careful to use always the 
style and diction of the Old and New Testaments, 
of the Christian religion. 

This Joseph Smith was born in Windsor, Yerinont,. 
about 1805 or 1806, of strictly Puritan New England 
stock ; but of limited education, and of still less moral 
probity. When he was a good sized boy (seventeen 
or eighteen years old) he declared that an ''Angel 
appeared unto him'- (a la record in our New Testament) 
and told him where some very old records might be 
found consisting of three Golden Plates, engraved in 
Egyptian letters, and purj)orted to have been written 
some three hundred years later than the advent of 
Jesus Christ ; and written by some alleged prophet,, 
called Mormon ! This alleged prophet called Mormon 
gave the name to this newly invented sect of religion- 
ists. Now these three Golden Plates, Smith said he 
discovered under the "uidance of an angel, and this was 
in 1830 somewhere (I was about 12 or 14 years 
old, as near as I can remember, but I have forgotten 
where Smith said he found the Golden Plates). How- 
ever, as things had to be done in regular Apostolic, ordeVy 
the first thing was to find men who would vouch for 
the existence of the three plates. This was easily 
arranged for and was as follows : 

"Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tonoues 
and peoples unto whom this shall come; that we,. 



REMINLSCEXCE.S FROM DIAKY. 235 

through the grace of God, the father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, have seen the three Golden Plates which con- 
tain this record, which is a record of the people of 
Nephi, and also of the Lamanites. their brethren, and 
also of the peojile of Jared, who came from the 
tower of which liath been spoken : and we also know 
that they hath been translated by the gift and power of 
God, for His voice hath declared it unto us! Wheie- 
fore, we know for a surety, the work is true and we 
also testify that we have seen the engravings which 
are upon tlie plates; and they have been shown unto 
us by ihe jMioer of God and not of man! And we de- 
clare with words of soberness, that an angel of God 
came down from heaven and he brought and laid be- 
fore our eyes that we beheld, and saw the plates, and 
the engravings thereon,-' etcetera. (Much more of the 
same follows, but I give enough.) This is signed b}' the 
following : 

"Oliver Cowdery, 
David TVhitmek, 
Martin Hakris'' 

Here we have the testimony of three witnesses, 
which they think comes up to any standard fixed by 
Moses, and by the Apostles, of tlie New Testament. 
However, they were not going to take any chances, and 
straightway looked up, not tliree, but eujJif more of 
those very credulous souls, as follows : 

"Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues 
and peoples, unto whom this shall come, that Joseph 
Smith, Jr., the translaior of this loork, has shown unto 
us the plates of which hath been spoken, which have 
the appearance of gold, and as many of the leaves as 
the said Smith has translatetl, we did handle vnlh our 



236 REMINISCENCES PROM DIARY. 

hands; and also saw the engravings thereon ; all of 
which has the appearance of ancient loorh and of cur- 
ious workmanship, etc., etc.'''' (and more to same effeot, 
too long to cop\') " and we give our names unto the 
world to witness unto the world that which we have 
:seen, and we lie not, God hearing witness of it ! " 
(Signed:) 
Hiram Page, Christian Whitmer, 

Joseph Smith, Sk., Jacob Whitmer, 

Hyrum Smith, Peter Whitmer, Jr., 

Samuel H. Smith, John Whitmer. 

It will be perceived that the alleged Divine revela- 
tions on the alleged Golden Plates are mainly vouched 
for by the Smith and Whitmer families. But on such 
a basis the Book of Mormon was written, a small 
16mo, of 563 pages, and printed in Liverpool, England, 
in 1853-4. It purports to be an abridgement of 
the record of the people of Nephi and of the 
Lamanites, who claim to be a remnant of the house of 
Israel, and also to Jew and Gentile alike; " written by 
way of commandment and by the spirit of prophecy 
and revelation, written and sealed up by the hand of 
Moroni and hid up unto the Lord that they might 
not be destroyed, but come forth in due time by the way 
of the Gentile ! " 

The foregoing gives the initial point of the sprout- 
ing of the Mormon religion. It is always easy to start 
a new religion where perfect freedom of religious be- 
lief forms part of the organic laws of the State; be- 
cause followers can always be drummed up to believe 
a,nd certifv to anything however absurd. The eleven 
signers to this rot and slops I have given were just 
•as great rascals in private life as their limited education 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 23T 

and intelligence permitted. But they gradually passed 
out of sight and our quondam friend, Mr. Brigham 
Young, came into the field of action, armed and spun-ed 
direct from Plymouth Hock. 

Joe Smith had discovered it was pleasant to look 
upon the women ; and by so doing he rapidly gained 
converts of that class of women whose mental darkness 
and superstition hold to the rusty chestnut, in some 
part of the Christian Bible, that " Seven women shall 
cleave unto one man " in order to get inside of the 
golden gates of heaven ! as well in our own day, as of 
old. 

Brig-ham Young- being also of New England Puritan 
stock, and after Joe Smith, he had no difficulty in soon 
becoming a much more powerful and accepted "prophet" 
than Smith ever had been. Brigham went into it for 
revenue first, then for pleasure, then for fame and 
power, all of which he accumulated rapidly. By the 
year 1856 he had amassed and received from church 
tithes and exactions from his many thousand followers 
over two millions of dollars. In the same time he had 
been continuous civil governor of Utah by appointment 
of our successive presidents in their unsuspecting confi- 
dence, and by his position had acquired title to every- 
thing worth having in that territory, such as lands, 
mill-sights, mines, roads, etc., etc. He communed 
with the Lord just previous to ordering the people to 
do what he desired ! He took old Moses for an exam- 
ple for punishing those who dissented from his orders 
or expressed views. He said once, in a sermon in the 
temple, that nothing short of shedding blood would 
save souls! and that he had received a revelation from 
Deity to order the shedding of blood in future for grave 



238 ri:mimscenc'Ks from niAKY. 

offenses against the churcli of ''Latter Day Saints ! " "If 
Moses obeyed a revelation from Goil, to despoil the 
^litlianites (wlio, to say the least, were not bad or 
unfriendly neighbors), by sending an army of ten 
thousand to take by force half a million sheej) and a 
hundred thousand cattle and half as many asses, he, as 
]>resident of the church in Utah, should obey his 
revelations from God to levy a heavy toll on the 
revilers of his religion, passing thi'ough their valley I 
Xot only this," said he, '' but like unto Moses I shall 
capture and take for my faithful people ihc virgins of 
those who are constantly |)assing through toward the 
Pacific, anil who only add to the enemies of these 
saints." 

Such was Brigham's power over his people, and such 
was the beniglitetl mental condition of most of them, 
that the three or four hundred unmitigated scoundrels 
in official position carried things about as they pleased ! 
But I>righani, as 1 have before stated, was one of the 
smartest all-arounil men 1 ever met in my life. He, in 
fact, ordered every movement and act, yet none could 
be actually traced to him. Scores of so-called Indum 
attacks made on emigrants crossing the plains were, in 
fact, ordered by the Mornu)n church authorities, but 
€minating from " President Young," the prophet, seer, 
and divine agent! The one hundred and thirty-seven 
poor emigrants massacred at Mountain Meadows by 
{Bishop) Lee and his disguised accomplices in 1S56, 
and the sparing oimwe female children, under the age 
at which any could remember to disclose the horror, 
was undoubtedly the edict of Brigham Young,the head 
of the church I The otiicers of our army at Camp 
Flovd. in 1850 and in ISOO, gathered those remaining 



I{i:.miniscp:nces from diary. 2S9 

children and I had tliem at rny quarters for two weeks 
getting them ready to send with a train to leave Utah 
for Leavenworth early in the spring of 1800, to be dis- 
tributed from there if possible, to living relatives in the 
States whence their massacred parents had gone on 
their fatal overland travel I Only two of the liitle 
girls could recall more than a mere shadow of that 
three days bloody massacre by the Mormons (disguised 
as Indians), under the command of John D. Lee, a 
bishoj) living nearest the place of butcher3\ It was not 
till 1884 or 1885 that the accumulated evidence was 
sufficient to convict Lee. IJut he was finally convicted 
and shot to death. In fact, it was the dim recollection 
of two of the oldest infants preserved, that gave our 
officers and detectives the lines and trails which final- 
ly, after a quarter of a century following these trials. 
led to Bishop Lee's conviction. L>ut I have said more 
than I expected to v;hen I began to give the basis of 
the Mormon religion. Its practical working character 
may be said to consist, brielly,of the following dogmas: 

Love is what all should strive for, as it gives a 
higher state of existence. All personal passions, 
cravings and appetites are merely lines on which to 
reach exaltation I 

That the natural man, or the natural woman, are 
neither a complete human being, but it requires both 
to perfect the being; and that, as the Mosaic code 
authorized one man to have many women, so is it 
God's will that no virgin in good standing with the 
church should pass beyond her nineteenth year of age, 
if health V, without taking a husband (or at least a pfiH 
of rnw). 



240 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

That High Church Functionaries (always and only^ 
MEN) should take as many wives as they felt able to 
care for, but never less than three. 

Tlie result was, before our army went there, the 
high church officials took as many wives as they could 
get girls willing to join them, and made every wife 
pretty much sui)}3ort herself ! Still did many blindly 
fall in line, and often rejoiced even at having the third 
or sixth place as wife in the household I 

The leading Mormons (Brigham leading off) taught 
(and the people believed it ) that God is a person, in 
flesh and form, like men here on earth ; that men are 
part and parcel of the God, and are destined to ulti- 
mately become gods also ; that original sin had no foun- 
dation and that we are only accountable for wrongs and 
sins which ice each commit. They teach also that human 
beings, on this planet, are merely emhodied spirits ; and 
that innumerable other spheres, or worlds, exist with 
similar, or appropriate, beings to each sphere ; that 
women or wives and children constitute a man's heaven 
here on earth, and hereafter, also ; that women, sepa- 
rate and aside from men, have no heaven ! that the 
kinirdom of God has been re-established on earth, and 
it is the duty and right of the saints to take control, and 
so on ad nanseum^ with which I close the subject and 
beg pardon of my readers. 

General Johnson had named the place '' Camp 
Flovd " in honor of the then secretary' of war, Mr, John 
13. Flovd. Captain Paige, whom I had relieved of all 
duties at the post, remained there, and his two clerks 
occupied themselves in helping my clerks to straighten 
out confused accounts; while Paige applied himself assi- 
duously to drinking whisky until April, 1859, when he 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 241 

died under its effects. Both he and the service gained 
something by his death, as he had long before passed 
the line of possible reformation. About this time, I 
had completed all needful buildings, had thrown a 
dam across the creek, from a living spring, almost in 
the center of the military grounds, and at a place of 
high banks, so that the water rose eight feet high, 
forming a mill-pond thus created. I erected a small 
frame shed for a pair of twelve-inch stones, which I 
put to work grinding the oats, wheat and barley, to be 
fed to the public animals, thus saving much forage, 
besides reducino- to the minimum the dangers of feed- 
ing dry wheat and barley to animals. I had found it 
practicable, in the meantime, to make contracts for 
hay and grain and fuel instead of purchasing from 
individuals, in open market. 

It was an idle life for the troops, but a very busy 
one for the quartermaster's department and a slave's 
life for myself, the only officer in it there on duty. The 
soldiers and officers, however, settled down to the 
usual quiet garrison life, with no signs from Washing- 
ton that anv further movement towards " Regulating 
the Mormons" was anticipated, and the universal ques- 
tion became of frequent utterance : " What on earth 
are we all here for?" I, as the responsible officer for 
all that immense transportation, wanted to know 
" why three or three hundred six-mule teams and 
wagons were kept there, if no further military opera- 
tions were to be carried on ?" But we did not long 
wait for signs. In July, 1859, came along Mr. Ben 
Iloladay, from Washington City, direct, having in his 
pockets orders from the Secretary of War, to sell at 
public auction, after twenty days advertisement, 300 

16 



243 REMINISCENCES FRO]M DIARY. 

wagons complete, 1,800 sets of mule harness and 1,800 
mules. This was a poser to me. To order thus sold 
at auction to highest bidder, more than three hun- 
dred thousand dollars worth of public propert}^ in 
the silent recesses of the Wasatch Eange, one might 
say, more than a thousand miles distant from settle. 
ments (other than the few impecunious Mormons, all 
belonging to the one Mogul, Brigham Young) pre 
sented a phase of human idiocy or criminality at 
the War Office in Washington, startling to contem 
plate, to sa}'^ the least. My first thought was that 
Brigham Young was the regulator, and had "regu. 
lated" the War Department instead of being regu- 
lated by the army ; and this unique sale was to make 
Brigham the favored beneficiary of all the military 
transportation, so recentl}' purchased to be used against 
the prophet. But 1 was soon undeceived when Mr. 
Holaday produced from his capacious pockets, the fol- 
lowing : 

War Department, ) 
Washington, D. C, June, 1859. f 
To the Quartermaster at Camp Floyd : 

Sir — You will receive, in payment for the public 
property you are ordered to sell, the acceptances of 
contractors Russell, Majors and Waddell, which Mr. 
Ben Holaday may offer in payment of such propert}^ 
as he may purchase at such sale. 

(Signed) John B. Floyd, 

Secretary of War. 

Great Scott ! thought I. 

The above showed that Mr. Ben Holaday was to be 
the favored beneficiary, and the whole scheme at once 
materialized. The 1,800 mules were then worth, at 



REMINISCENCES FRO:\[ DIARY. 243 

Leavenworth $150 each, and on the Pacific coast $200 
each ; the wagons, $125 ; the harness, $45 ; and the set 
for six mules (omitting the small furnishings, which 
consisted of 300 fifth chains, 600 spreaders, 300 jockey 
sticks, 300 halters, 300 wagon whijDS, the regular old 
style black snakes — 300 water buckets, 3U0 pairs of six- 
mule team lines, tar or grease buckets, axes, etc., 
and besides a score of small fittings), all ordered to be 
sold on twenty days' notice, in a wilderness 800 miles 
from any settlement excepting the Mormons, which 
meant the single individual, Brigham Young I Could 
greater evidence be wanted of fraud, or a reckless dis- 
regard of public interest I The lowest value of the prop- 
erty thus ordered to be sold, was ajiproximatel}' as 
follows : 

1,800 mules at $150 each - - - $240,000 
300 Xo. 1 Army Wagons at $125 - - 37,500 
300 sets six-mule harness at $45 - - 13,500 
Other fittings and furnishings - - 1(),000 

Total, at least ----- $301,000 
This order placed me in a dilemma I For me to pro- 
ceed and sell it as ordered by the Secrctai-y of AYai', was 
virtually to give it to Mr, Holaday at his own ])rice, 
because there could be little or no competition at a 
public sale, in the wilderness, clothed as he was with 
power to pay for it in '' paper acceptances,'' while other 
bidders must ]^ay cash down, as per law and army reo-- 
ulaiions! I conferred with Colonel Crosman, the 
deputy quartermaster-general, and with Gen. Albert Sid- 
nev Johnston, I pointed out to them the strange featui-es 
of the Secretary's order, antl the sacrific of public prop, 
ertv that would result if the order was carried out. 



244 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

Johnston showed his usual timid nature, especiall3Mvhen 
acting in deference to his superior (the Secretar}'). He 
admitted all I said, and expressed amazement at the 
sacrifice of propert}' it involved, but,'' felt it his duty to 
have the orders carried out ! " This one circumstance 
goes farther to explain General Johnston's true char- 
acter, than all his military life put together. He 
was conscientious in wishing to follow John B. Floyd's 
orders, yet knowing full well that it was a crime to 
make such a sale, and that the wrong was in no wise 
palliated in the War Department because of the distance 
from the seat of government at which it was con- 
summated. A man of great character and courage, 
free from political trammels, in Johnston's place, there 
on the spot, commanding the troops and controlling 
these very means of transportation, would have ordered 
all proceedings stopped, until he had ofhcially shown 
the folly of executing the Secretary's orders. But John 
ston was not that kind of a man. He was educated to 
obey orders, but he was emphatically a Kentuckv 
politician also — first, last, and all the time. And the 
whole world has learned a Kentucky politician can do 
more in the line of dividing himself into parts, and 
riding two or three political horses at the same time 
(even in opposite directions) then any other class of 
men in the country. Johnston could not help being so. 
He was an obedient slave to what he thought his supe- 
riors desired ; and lacked the courage to even question 
the judgment or motives of those superiors far enough 
to be true to his conscience and constituents. No won- 
der he failed always, where anything like action and 
assumed responsibility was required. Even the cause 
he served lost nothing: when he met death at Shilo, 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 245 

Eut as the world goes, he was a clever, discrete, quiet, 
honest man, and commanded great confidence. In this 
matter. Colonel Crosman, deputy quartermaster-gen- 
eral, was a greater coward than General Johnston, 
because it was Crosman who received the Secretary's 
order to have the property sold and merely turned over 
the order and responsibilit}' to me. But to return to 
my subject. As the best thing 1 could do I sent off at 
once by express riders, to California and to Leaven- 
worth (with Johnston and Crosman's full approval), 
hand-bills announcing when a sale would com- 
mence, giving briefly the valuable propei-ty to be 
sold, etc., and then I began to make piepanitions 
for the sale. Tiie mules were in herds at different 
points twelve to twenty miles from the post, all fat 
and in the best condition. I erected near the gate- 
way of the large mule corral a high stand for the 
auctioneer, clerks, etc. Meanwhile another order 
came from the quartermaster-general to discharge 
all employes tliat could be dispensed with. These 
employes comprised teamsters, wagon-masters, wheel- 
wrights, blacksmiths, harness makers, etc., to the 
number of over three hundred men. None of them had 
been paid for a long while; many of them not since 
they had left Fort Leavenworth in 1858. There was 
over $100,000 then due to these employes alone, who 
were ordered to be discharged, or sent back to Leaven- 
worth. (Note how easy and practical it would have 
been for the secretary of war to have ortlered these 
three hundred wagons and teams sent either to Leaven- 
worth or San Francisco by these same men, row 
ordered discharged in the wilderness, and whose con- 
tract required them to be sent back.) 



246 RExMINlSCENCES FROM DIARY. 

As Mr. Holaday held authority to pa}^ for mules 
in the paper acceptances of a contractor to whoni the 
government owed mone\\ I could not discover any- 
thing out of the '.vay in notifying these employes, 
now or-dered discharged, with proper vouchers just as 
good and better than contractors' acceptances, that 
they might pay for mules and Wcigons in these vouchers, 
to the extent they wished to purchase. The law 
re(|uires all public property sold at public sale " to be 
sold for cash down I " Xot even checks from a million- 
aire, on a perfectly sound bank, can be received under 
the law in payment for United States property at public 
sale. Cash ! Xothing but cash ! But Mr. Secretary of 
War Floyd violates this law, in ordering the officer 
selling the property to accept something besides cash. 
Tlierefore I, as the selling officer and the one respon- 
sible to the Treasury Department for- every paiticle 
of this property and for the cash dollars it might bring^ 
at sale, considered I was fully justified in paying these 
einplo3'es off, and taking up their vouchers, b}' their 
purchases of mules and wagons sufficient to take them 
back to the States. This was decided upon and carried 
out, but it was gall and wormwood to Ben Holaday; 
and if he had had the time to do so, he would have 
sent express to Washington and had the Secretary 
disapprove of my plan to give the employes a fair 
chance with Ben Holaday. This he had no time to 
do, so he had to " grin and bear iti " And bv this 
means the Government turned, its surplus mules and 
wagons into the payment of its arm}" of employes, at 
good, fair prices. The teamsters knew the vahiable 
mules and had no hesitation in paying a good price for 
such as they wanted. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 247 

During July and August I thus sold off two-thirds 
of the property, more than half of which was pur- 
chased by the three hundred discharged men, at good 
prices and paid for in the vouchers they held against 
the Government for their services. I adjourned the 
sale then until September, when I closed it out and 
Mr. Ben Holaday made naost of his purchases at the 
last, or closing out sale. 

Getting rid of all that property made the winter 
of 1859-60 less laborious for me and vastly less expen- 
sive for the Government. In the spring of 1860, Gen- 
eral Johnston obtained leave of absence, and left for 
the East, via Los Angeles and San Francisco, leaving 
Colonel C. F Smith, of the Tenth Infantry, in com- 
mand. That was the last time I ever saw Albert Sid- 
ney Jo!)nston — although while I was chief quartermas- 
ter with Fremont at St. Louis, iu the autumn of 1861, 
I often heard of Johnston in command of Confederate 
forces in Kentucky. In fact I gave persons in 
St. Louis letters of recommendation to Johnston to 
allow them to pass on South, as they desired. These 
were generall}^ women and children, and Johnston 
extended like courtesy to some Northern people then in 
the South who wished to come North, as war was then 
inevitable. 

The very strange things the whirligig of time is 
said to bring about, or rather the ignorance we all 
labor under, as to what we may or may not do, in cer- 
tain contingencies, is so well illustrated in what 
occurred at a dinner given by Johnston, just before 
leaving Camp Flo3^d, that I will brieflv relate that din- 
ner party. I do so, mainlv to show che utter ignor- 
ance of the average army officers on the distant fron- 



243 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

tiers in March, 1860, of what politicians had in store for 
them in the near future ; and if I seem to claim greater 
foresight than others, as to then future events, it is not 
without reason ; and due to my more constant and dil- 
igent study of all that transpired in the political arena 
in the States of which I only kept my self better posted 
than others. As the dinner was drawing to a close, 
and the best wine obtainable in that region was on tap, 
toasts were in order and responses made. Of course, 
" Our Country " and its greatness and prosperity was 
not omitted, but offered, heartily drank, and responded 
to. This gave Johnston a good opportunit}^ to get off 
some sarcastic fun on mysell", greatly to the amusement 
of the dozen guests at the table ; because it was the 
universal remark of nearly all army offiecrs, that "Turn- 
ley was the advanced political prophet, as Brigham 
Young~was the prophet of the saints and the new re- 
ligion." And many were the sly jokes and ironical 
questions put tome about that time, as to the political 
future of the countr3\ As well as I can recall that 
dinner company, the following officers comprised it : 

General A. S. Johnston, commanding, and the host ; 
Col. George H. Crosman, deputy quartermaster-general; 
Col. C. F. Smith, Tenth U. S. Infantry ; Fitz John Por- 
ter, Asst. Adjt. Gen.; Lieut. Clarence Williams, A. D. C; 
Major G. R. Paul and myself. (There Avere more 
but my diary was lost and I have forgotten their 
names.) So far as I now know (1880) Fitz-John Por- 
ter and myself are the only survivors of that dinner 
party ; Johnston's sly shot of irony at me tickled Col- 
onel Crosman immensely, and with a hearty good 
laugh he demanded that " Captain Turnley explain the 
future and enlighten the company on what the political 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 249 

future has in store for our country and the army. " 
This was nuts for the entire table, but had a rather 
bitter taste to me, not to say embarrassing. Being 
urged, however, and having convictions of my own, I 
determined to face the music. According!}^ I rose and 
stated calmly and deliberately, in a few words, that 
which not one at the table believed was other than 
an hallucination of m}^ own distempered mind I 
said: "Gentlemen, you make light of the clouds 
which I think I darkly see in the near future. 1 have 
been a close reader of all published proceedings of the 
great political parties for the past twent}'^ years. I 
think I know the temper and meaning of the pol- 
iticians of the North and of the South, and without 
entering into details, I will simply answer your jocular 
inquiries by stating that I personall}^ feel no doubt what- 
ever that our union of States will be divided within 
one, certainly two years, and that there will be two 
governments, either with or without war; but I incline 
to the belief that there will be war, but there may 
not be ; if both parties agree to separation." I sat 
down. Colonel Crosman was the first to burst forth 
in a most hearty laugh, after which Johnston, sup- 
pressing a mirtjjful outburst calmly and with his usual 
dignit}^, said, " Well, Captain Turnley.if there is war, 
where will j^ou be found ? " ''I cannot say. General 
where I may find myself. " To which Johnston replied : 
" Well I am sorry you should feel any doubts on the 
subject. I should suppose that every mi litarv officer 
would have no hesitation in beings with his government." 
I then said : " Well, General, allow me to ask you, where 
will you be, in case of a war between the North and 
the South ? " The General looked at me for a second, 



350 RExMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

scarce]}' suppressing a smile, and said, " Captain, I sliall 
most certainly be where I hope to find you, on the side 
of the Government." With this the subject dropped 
for a moment, when I spoke up and said : " Well, Gen- 
eral you have no thought that there will be a war in this 
country between the North and the South ? " " Not in 
the least, " he answered. Said I '' Well, 1 have been 
out here in the wilds so long, I need a new suit of 
clothes badly, and if you are willing to make a small 
bet with me, one of us can assume the cost of two suits, 
and I will wager you a suit of uniform clothes that 
there will be secession of some of the slave States, and 
perhaps all, from the Union, or from the North within 
less than two years. Also, that if there is a war, you will 
not be on the side of the North." "I take the bet," 
said he. This was ratified, and closed the subject, j 
noted the bet in my pocket diary and supposed he 
did the same. 

I have related the foregoing, not for exploitation of 
prophecy on my part, for it will not warrant any such 
sagacity in me, but my purpose is merely to show the 
average ignorance in which otherwise intelligent and 
patriotic officers of the United States army weve of 
coming events, by reason of their failure to read up on 
the passing events as to political disputations which 
existed between the two widely separated civilizations 
of the dominant leading politicians of tlie North and 
the leading politicians of the South ; whereas, I had 
closely watched this antagonism and studied it from 
boyhood. General Johnston was a Kentuckian, a 
graduate from West Point as far back as 1826 and he 
had made an honorable record in the Black Hawk 
war; then in the war for the independence of Texas; 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 351 

and after that, again in the United States arm3\ He 
was brave, intelligent and patriotic, and no more 
doubted his fidelity to and love for the United States 
government tlian he doubted the chastity of his wife; 
yet Johnston joined the Confederacy! When the 
hour of trial came — that hour which he did not dream 
would ever come, and which he believed at that dinner 
party to be utterly improbable, Johnston could not 
hesitate as between his cavalier kindred of the South 
and their ancient foes, the Cromwellian, round -head 
Puritans of the North ! Johnston loved the greatness, 
the power, and glory of the Union of the States, ^>rc>- 
vided, the constitutional rights of each were admitted 
and respected as he and they understood such in the 
constitution, not otherwise. Even bond-slavery, which 
was the pretext for the contention, he did not like. It 
was ancient, crude, expensive and unprofitable. Yet, 
it existed a century before the Union ; and formed a 
part of tlie organic law, and was part and parcel of the 
domestic relations of the States where it existed. The 
"God and Humanity" jirayers of the Puritan (as 
Johnston afterwards asserted) were only a spasmodic 
burst of a few fanatics, and a cloak under which to 
accomplish some ulterior purpose ; as the cry for 
" Union " was but a shibboleth for the same ulterior 
purpose while the war was going on. The twelve 
millions of shrewd, enterprising American descendants 
of the round-heads, with the eight millions of well- 
trained European wage-operatives which a century of 
advanced teaching had imbued with deepest hatred for 
the descendants of the English cavaliers and slave 
holders who would own African slaves, made the 
impending contest a doubtful one ; yet blood out- 



^52 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

weighed policy. Little as Johnston and tens of thou- 
sands of his Southern people liked Negro slavery on the 
basis of equity and right, still they relioriously believed 
the African Negro was the gainer by being in bond- 
age for a time. The tribute exacted of the slave, 
which was only his labor, was more than returned to 
him in civilizing environments and temporal wants; 
still more so when we consider his moral elevation as 
compared with the condition even at the present time 
of his progenitors in Africa. Xo intelligent looker-on 
for the present and past centuries (say for Mve hundred 
years) but will concede that bond slavery of the 
African, among intelligent and Clu^istian j^'i'ofessing 
])eople^ is a boon compared to the savagery' of Africa, 
or to the wage slavery and factory and mining oppres- 
sion in the old nations of the world, among those 
equally claiming to be Christian and intelligent. These 
motives and convictions, therefore, induced ninety out 
of every one hundred of the Southern people to fight 
against coercion, not that thev disliked the Union, for 
they did like it, but coercion was simply a first step to 
the enslavement of the wlnie statesmen and politicians, 
as well as a transfer of the African slave to a Northern 
master's ])olitical control. 

But I have digressed. 

After Johnston had left Utah Colonel C. F. Smith 
•commanded the humdrum affairs of the post. Orders 
came that a portion of the force should proceed to New 
Mexico, and I set about getting transportation ready 
in the shape of mule and ox teams. Also, 1 prepared 
material and loaded the same on wagons to make nec- 
essary flat-boats or ferrv-boats to cross the command 
over Green river and other streams to be met with. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 2bS 

During the summer, Major Paul in command, tlie 
troops left us for their destination. I never afterwards 
met Major Paul. He remained in the Union army and 
served gallantly through the war, having both eyes 
shot out at Gettysburg. He lived afterwards in Wash- 
ington City, retired from service. During the summer 
of 1860 I repeated my application for leave of absence, 
and wrote to my father in the States to go to Wash- 
ington and urge the Secretary of War, John B. Floyd, 
to grant me the leave. Father did go, and succeeded in 
obtaining the leave, but not to take effect until an officer 
could be sent from the East to relieve me. This, (jf 
course, was indefinite. Major R. E. Cleary, quarter- 
master, then unemployed about Washington, was 
the one ordered to go to Utah and relieve me. He was 
slow starting, and slower making the trip. But, as 
most things have an end, he finally reached the post,, 
with half a million dollars in gold (in a large, Eochester- 
made safe), for the paymaster, and also a hundred 
thousand dollars for me, as quartermaster, but which I 
left with him to disburse. I had all the public property 
and business made up in good shape, ready to turn over 
to him, with the least delay, in order to start East as 
soon as possible. His arrival was in September, 1860, 
and we found it a tedious job to examine and count, and 
turn overall the public property and affairs of the post 
to a successor. Contractors were still engaged putting 
up hay with, perhaps, eight hundred to a thousand tons 
already put up in ricks. The accumulation of two 
years of all sorts of property had to be counted to the 
satisfaction of the receiving officer. However, we got 
through with it early in October, and 1 had my four- 
mule ambulance, saddle horse and baggage wagon all 



254 . REMINlSCEiN'CES FROM DIARY. 

in readiness to start on my long journey of thirteen 
hundred miles eastward, although it was late in the 
season to start across the Rocky Mountains on such a 
trip. Just then I was summoned as a witness to appear 
at a general court-martial then ordered to assemble at 
the ])ost to try Maj. Marshal S. Howe, of the Second 
Draijoons, on charges which Col. G. II. Crosman had 
prepared against him for various derelictions in the care 
and management of the horses in his command. This 
was a sad disappointment to me, as it made the date of 
m\^ depai'ture altogether uncertain. If the court was 
disposed to favor me it would call me earl\' in the 
trial, otherwise I might wait till the last witness. The 
court having dragoon officers on it rather inclined to 
favor the accused, who was the chief dragoon officer 
there, as against my department, which supplied the 
feed and shelter for the horses said to have been 
neglected. I had but a poor showing for any favors, 
nor did I receive any, but was Ivcpt till the last day. I 
finally got started home, however, and shook the dust 
of Camp Floyd from my feet — and I have never seen 
it since and don't want to again during life. 

November 16, 1860, 1 camped out the first night at a 
settlement near the town of Spingville, thirty miles 
south from Salt Lake City. I did not relish tiie pros- 
pect of traveling thirteen hundred miles b\" the slow 
daily marches of twenty-fi.ve or thirty miles a day, with 
the outfit with me ; and as I la}' in my tent that night 
I slept but little. I could not restrain my mind from 
revolving upon some method by which I could make a 
quicker trip. Finally, at almost daylight, I solved the 
problem and determined to leave my entire outfit (except 
clothing and valuables), to goon with Mr. Kalapsza. I 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 255 

hired a two-horse wagon from the oUl bishop (Evans), 
near our camj), to take me and luggage to Salt Lake 
Cit}', where I could purchase a seat in the semi-weekly 
overland stage coach, then ])l.ying between Atchison, 
Kansas, and Salt Lake City. I got coffee while Evans 
Avas getting his old two-horse farm wagon read3% and I 
bade good-bye to my outfit, arrived at dark at Salt Lake 
stage office, paid my $175 for a seat to Atchison to leave 
the next morning, I then turned in to the little hotel 
for rest and sleep. Bright and early the next morning 
I was up, had coffee, and was ready for the stage coach 
as it came up to the tavern door. Two other passen- 
gers were already seated (both New Enghinders by 
birth), but seceding Mormons, after a brief -experiment, 
who were going back to visit families and friends in 
the land of Puritans and pumpkin pies, after several 
years of absence. One had been cutting and stacking 
hay at the various stage stations for a couple of years, 
and the other had been employed as a mechanic and 
otherwise at various places. Both were 3'oung men, with- 
out families, and I soon suspected they were either ad- 
venturers from civilized life, or else apostate Mormons. 
(I had their names on my diary, which was lost.) They 
were verv agreeable companions and made the ten 
days trip on the same stage much more endurable than if 
I had been alone. We crossed the Little and the Bio- 
mountain that night and slept at foot of the latter, and 
the next day, at 4 p. m., drove into Fort Bridger where 
I ''took a drink" with Judge Carter, the sutler, post- 
master, probate judge and the high and only civil. 
Gentile "cock-a-lorum" in that region. Butall thishad 
to be done in half an hour, and on we went, not stop- 
ping for the night, even at stations, except for meals. 



256 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

Some time that night we made a station called Miller's 
Ranch, got a warm supper and rested only an hour; 
then resumed the travel, which was unbroken by inci- 
dent till a little after dark next day when we arrived at 
Green River station, when we changed horses, had din- 
ner and in a few hours were again rattling over the 
broad and much used throuo-hfare toward the South 
Pass. At that place on the summit of the pass, we 
found quite a comfortable station, kept by a man and his 
spouse, in rather a neat and inviting condition. Stop- 
ping with this man and his wife was a young girl ap- 
parently about sixteen years old, said to be the unfor- 
tunate remnant or castaway of some family with an 
overland party of immigrants which had met with 
disaster during the previous summer at the hands of 
Indians or road-men or Brigham Young's destroying 
angels or Danites. The girl had been saved and rescued, 
and was waiting an opportunity to return to the States 
and her relatives. I have forgotten her name, but while 
at supper and before retiring to sleep as we did that night 
at the station, I heard of her condition and her desire to 
return East to her friends, but lacked the money to pay 
her stage fare and no freight trains were coming East 
so late in tiie season, which she might avail herself of. 
After thinking the matter over, I determined to con- 
tribute the money necessary for her to return, and as 
we had only three passengers, there was ample room 
for her in that stage. I made this known to the man 
and wife and told them if they would have the girl 
ready by breakfast in the morning, I would see that 
she was properly delivered at Atchinson and provided 
with means to rejoin her friends, who lived somewhere 
in that part of the country. But the man and wife did 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 257 

not readily agree to the offer, and while the girl was 
anxious, although I was a stranger to her, yet she 
placed her confidence in the fact that I was an officer 
of the U. S. A, and would not be likely to prove false 
to any promises, still the station-keeper and his wife 
resisted any such scheme and I at once discovered that 
those people desired to keep the girl at all hazards, 
and as I had no authority to interfere I had to yield to 
the odds against me and left the girl where she was. 
I learned afterward that the man and wife were really 
Mormons in disguise, and kept the station under guise 
of being apostate Mormon, and seeking to earn money 
enough to get back to the States ; but were in fact 
active recruiting agents for that church. I also learned 
that the girl soon became that man's additional wife, 
and to make her such was his and his wife's intention 
from the time she fell into their hands. The girl's 
parents and party had been massacred the previous 
summer by alleged Indians while enroute to the 
Pacitic Coast, though doubtless by Mormons, and she 
could give but a slight account of her friends in the 
States. We left the next morning, early, with fresh 
and frisky mules to our stage and rattled on, down 
the Eastern slope of the South Pass to the Sweet Water. 
On this trip, we changed mules every twenty miles and 
as a general thing, the animals were young, in good con- 
dition and traveled at a rapid rate, not unfrequently in 
a moderate gallop, so that on good roads we made 
oftentimes, by daylight, full ten to fifteen miles the 
hour. The following day, we approached the last 
crossing of* the Sweet Water coming east, and toward 
midnight when very dark, we were rounding a sharp 
turn in the road with a high point of the mountain 

17 



258 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

overshadowing and making pitchy-dark a short stretch 
of road, when in a sweeping gallop the leading mules 
suddenly shied at some imaginary object and broke the 
tongue of the stage square off, the leaders going free 
with the attached portion. This occurred about two 
miles from the station we were approaching, so we had 
to foot it to the station. The night was clear and calm, 
but very cold. Only the smouldering fire of the station- 
keeper's bedtime was left to warm us, and the station- 
keeper fast asleep. We soon overhauled the mules and 
with lanterns set about finding a pole we could utilize 
as a tongue. We got out the broken piece from the 
stage, burned off the old irons, and with hatchet and 
drawing knife, auger, hammer and spikes, improvised 
a "pole," but did not effect all this and resume our 
journey till long after sunrise. We also had some hot 
coffee before starting off. 

My daily notes kept after this having been burned in 
the great Chicago fire, I cannot attempt to give details, 
stopping places or the different days' progress from 
memory. But at this time we were about two and a 
half days from Fort Laramie. 

About one day's travel before we reached Fort 
Laramie, we stopped over Sunday at a well-appointed 
station kept for the company temporarily by a man 
and his wife, named Tarbox. He was of the Texas 
family of that name and his wife was a proficient 
in all the details of housekeeping and good cook- 
ing on the frontiers. That Sunday night was about 
all the real sleep I had since leaving Salt Lake 
City. Resuming our trip early Monday morning 
we made no stops save to change mules and leave way 
mails till we reached the crossing of South Platte, at 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 359 

what was then called Julesburg Crossing, to the south 
bank, where the station was at which we had to wait 
for the stage from the then embryo town of Denver, 
Colorado. The discovery of gold in Cherry Creek, at 
the site where Denver now is, during the years 1858 
to 1860, had induced a large number of people to 
migrate thither, and a considerable traffic had grown 
up between there and Leavenworth, Atchison, etc., so 
much so that a regular stage line had been established 
from Denver eastward down the Platte river to this 
junction at Julesburg. That night the Denver stage 
arrived, and in it a couple of passengers and the usual 
box of gold dust bound for the States. We soon had 
them on board and were off again, with fresh, fiery 
mules, on a skip-hop-and-jump. No special incident 
occurred, and we reached Atchison a little after night- 
fall on the tenth day after leaving Salt Lake City, a 
distance, as then computed, of 1,260 miles. (What the 
distance has been ascertained to be by more accurate 
measurement since, I do not know.) I had lost so 
much sleep that I had almost lost all desire to sleep. 
In fact, I felt alarmed at my sleepless and seemingly 
fresh condition. I was soon in a good hotel, had sup- 
per, smoked a cigar, and midnight came with no feel- 
ing for sleep. I concluded, then, to order a bath, 
which I spent half an hour in, warm and pleasant, and 
getting out went at once to bed. To my delight, I 
dropped to sleep quickly, and knew nothing whatever 
till I awoke at noon the following day, feeling per- 
fectly rested and fresh. I washed and dressed, and 
after a little dinner, started for St. Joseph, Missouri, 
where I took cars, and a run of twenty -four hours 
landed me in Chicago. There I met my family, whom 
I had not seen since Mav 18, 1858 



260 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

I was now on my leave of six months, to count 
from November 15th, and I had thus consumed more 
than three weeks of it in getting home. The country 
was in great excitement, politically. Abraham Lincoln 
had just been elected president, by a minority popular 
vote, though by reason of several candidates, he had a 
plurality of the electoral votes of the states. Douglas, 
Breckenridge and Bell, all having been candidates, 
received a large portion of the popular vote ; but Lin- 
coln had the electoral vote of the States, sufficient to 
make him the President. The political leaders of the 
slave States were disappointed and dissatisfied ; and, by 
reason of the then recent John Brown raid into Virginia, 
planned and designed to reach other States, to create 
insurrection among the slaves all over the South ; the 
Southern people were more than dissatisfied, they 
were alarmed and exasperated to the extreme limit of 
endurance, and preparing for conventions to vote on 
the question of seceding from the Union. I was thus 
brought face to face with my predictions at General 
Johnston's dinner table, sooner than I had supposed ; 
and wondered at that moment where Johnston was 
and what he thought. I had not heard from him, and 
did not then know he had been ordered on duty in 
California. I was ])retty well used up, more so than I 
had before realized, by my long overland journey, and 
required rest, so I passed my time recuperating and 
posting myself on current events of the day. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 261 



CHAPTER XI. 

I thus rested quietly with my family at 119 Wa- 
bash avenue, Chicago, until after the holidays. One of 
the objects of my coming east from Utah was to attend 
to some business connected with an old land case, in 
my native county in East Tennessee, and early in Jan- 
uary, 1861, 1 started to that State, but took Springfield 
in my route. The Illinois Legislature was just then 
assembling and I stopped over a day or two to see and 
hear all I could, but especially to call upon and see Mr. 
Abraham Lincoln, who was just then the great Mogul 
of the countr}'. As a general thing, the northern 
people worshiped this rising sun with peans while the 
southern people execrated, with equal fervency, this 
new leader of what they called " the John Brown" 
insurrectionists and murderers and organized specially 
to incite slaves against their owners. The Hons. John 
Y. Scammon and Wm. B. Odgen (friends and neigh- 
bors of mine, in Chicago) were in the same car and 
accompanied me to Springfield, also walked with me 
to Mr. Lincoln's residence and introduced me to him 
that evening. In a short time two other gentlemen 
came into the parlor; Mr. Lincoln was stretched out, 
or rather coiled up, on a sofa and did not at first seem 
inclined to talk, or show much interest in our visit. 
No doubt he was tired having passed a day of constant 
calling of politicians. What a fearful ordeal a success- 
ful canditate for high office is subjected to b}?^ his 
quondam and real political friends ? 

My friends in introducing me to Lincoln, rather 
overdid the matter and Mr. Ogden was quick to dis- 



262 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

cover this little error of supererogation, which I as 
promptly tried to make amends for. Mr. Scammon 
rose and said, "Mr. Lincoln, I wish to introduce to 
you, our friend Capt. Turn ley of the U. S. army. 
Capt. Turnle3''s family resitle in Chicago, but he has 
just returned from a two years' tour of services in 
Utah and the frontiers, and is now on his way to visit 
his boyhood's home, in Tennessee. He has come by 
way of Springfield specially to see our President-elect. 
Capt. Turnley can give you all information about the 
arm}', as he has been nearly twenty years in the service, 
and no doubt can give us all the general sentiment of 
the army on the present exciting political topics of 
the day." 

The foreffoinij: introduction was meant all for the 
best, but as I have said, there w\'\s too much of it; 
especially as I was in the army and was being intro- 
duced to one who would soon be its Commander-in- 
chief; and one, too, who belonged to that class of 
American citizens who never had much love, and little 
respect, for the Regular Army. I watched, particular- 
ly, Mr. Lincoln's countenance during Scammon's drawn- 
out introduction. T was [not altogether an adept in 
reading minds or character, vet I had not failed in ten 
years' service on the frontiers, to learn something of 
men's characters and minds by their looks and actions. 
Mr. Lincoln dropped his eyes on the carpet, then raised 
it to the ceiling and mechamcaUy responded to what 
he evidently felt was a bore, rather late at night. All 
the time my eyes were fixed on Mr. Lincoln's face and 
features, while Ogden and Scammon carried on a 
desultory conversation with him. Finally Mr. Lincoln 
turned to me and asked a few perfunctory questions 



REMINISCENCES FROM UIARV. 263 

regarding life in the frontiers, Utah, Brightam Young 
the Mormons, etc., during which I was struck with his 
great resemblance in some respects to that shrewd and 
wily chief of a progressive religion, Brigliam Young. 
Mr, Lincoln was certainly a thorough politician, and 
commanded and concealed his inner thoughts as com- 
pletely as ever an expert gambler did at a losing game. 
I began to feel half sorry I had made the call, and was 
revolving in my mind just how I might, with good 
manners, close the interview and slip into outer dark- 
ness. I began to feel that I was not only a cipher in Mr. 
Lincoln's mind, but even worse than that, a pensioner, 
carrying a sword to the scandal of a free people. 
However, I also had command of my "risibilities" and 
played the "cool gambler" a little myself. It was not 
long till Mr. Lincoln warmed up a little to the subjects 
discussed, suddenly raising his head as if a new idea 
had struck him, in fact as though he had just suspected 
that I might possibly possess something useful to a 
politician — if such were his thoughts, he surely arrived 
at them by coming to the conclusion that I, above all 
" army pensioners," was about the least of a politician 
he had ever met with. However, this turn of affairs 
brought on a conversation and Mr. Lincoln plied rae 
with questions, about as a lawyer would who expected 
to confuse and discredit his opponent's witness. I kept 
cool, and decorously answered all his questions, which 
related to the aggregate strength of the U. S. array, 
and where the different regiments were posted, inform- 
ing him so far as I could. Then he asked me if there 
was much politics in the army. I replied, " Little or 
none." So Mr. Lincoln certainly felt that he had a very 
good subject to interrogate. Finally, he wormed out 



264 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

of me that I had been through the Mexican War, Flor- 
ida, and, for ten years, on the Indian Frontiers; which 
information must have impressed him with the belief 
that I ought to know something about the capability of 
forces in the field, and that I could not possibly know 
much politics. He came at once to the broad question, 
in case of secession of a State how many regulars it 
would require to keep the little State of South Carolina 
from floating out to sea? Every one smiled, and I 
replied^ that I did not feel able to answer that ques- 
tion. "Well," said he, "Capt. Turnley, don't you 
think that one regiment of regulars and a regiment of 
volunteers would be ample to enforce the laws down 
there, collect the revenues, hold the courts, and carry 
the mails?" I replied, "No, it would not, nor ten 
times two regiments!" 

He smiled, and turning to Scammon and Ogden, 
remarked : " These army officers have verx' large ideas 
of soldiers, and they never take into consideration our 
civil officers, and sheriff's posse." I replied that I cer- 
tainly thought I had all confidence in the civil officers. 
"But to do the work you designate, Mr. Lincoln, will 
require on army, not merely a few regiments." "Well," 
said he, "of course, none of us know what is in the 
future, but so far as I can diagnose the disease we are 
passing through, I cannot see that more than two or 
three regiments will be required to execute all the 
United States laws in disaffected States, and to execute 
the laws is all I shall attempt to do. This, however, I 
will do, no matter how much force may be required." 
This, I supposed, was the end of the interview, and I 
cast a glance of departure toward Scammon and 
Ogden, but, in a moment, Mr. Lincoln, feeling, no 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 365 

doubt, that he had not yet pumped me as thoroughly 
as he might, or had not blinded me sufficiently to his 
own inner thoughts, turned toward me and said in the 
most meekly inquiring manner: "Weli, Captain Turn- 
ley, twenty years in the United States army is a long 
service, especially when you have passed through such 
a war as that in Mexico, and then on the Indian fron- 
tiers, and you ought to know something about the 
capacity of soldiers ; as you sa}' that two or three 
regiments will never be able to enforce the execution 
of laws in South Carolina or any of the Southern 
States which are threatening to withdraw and set up 
for themselves, I think I may venture to ask you what 
force you think will be able to do this work? lam 
not a military man, and know nothing of such things. 
You are, and certainly must have some definite and 
practical ideas on the subject; and I would just like to 
know, as you are a friend of Mr. Scammon and Mr. 
Ogden, about what military force you believe will be 
required to execute the laws as I have stated, in the 
States which may secede? Of course, Captain Turnley, 
I know very well that neither you nor any other man 
living can foretell the future; but what I wish to 
know is merely your present personal opinion on the 
subject, or in other words what force would you want, 
if you were personally charged with the work ? " I 
heard Mr. Lincoln through and was really at a loss to 
know whether he was candidly seeking information 
from me, or whether he was merely sounding me for 
other purposes. However, courtesy and respect com- 
pelled me to assume he was candid, and my own well- 
fixed opinions and belief equally compelled me to an- 
swer truthfully what I believed. Said I : '' Mr. Lincoln, 



266 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

you ask me to give an opinion on a very important 
matter, as we say out in the frontiers, 'a big thing ; 'and 
as you have expressed your own personal belief in the 
efficacy of two regiments, I fear you will view me in the 
light of one of those regular army fellows, who, as you 
said a while ago, have very large ideas. I must assure 
you, therefore, in advance, that I shall indulge in no 
flippant extravagance of expression. You have stated 
the work to be done and that you mean to do that 
work." " Yes," said he. " Well, Mr. Lincoln, if such 
be your determination, I beg that you will believe me 
candid when I say, instead of two or three regiments, 
you will require two or three hundred regiments. All 
full to the war limit." " What! " said he, " three hun- 
dred thousand men." " Yes, sir, and perhaps twice 
that number." Mr. Lincoln turned to Scammon and 
Ogden and said : " What do you gentlemen think of 
Captain Turnley's estimate for an army to enforce the 
laws in a few States? " Scammon was silent, but Mr. 
Ogden replied : " Well, Captain Turnley says about the 
same he has been telling Scammon and myself as we 
came on the cars from Chicago, to-(la3\" Mr. Lincoln 
smiled one of those half incredulous smiles, mixed, I 
thought, with a degree of pity for me as one alto- 
gether at sea, with a brain in the last stages of soften- 
ing, and quite too obtuse to talze m or appreciate his 
affected ignorance of military affairs. However, Lin- 
coln said no more and it was nearly midnight, so we 
took our leave — not till Mr. Lincoln asked me to pre- 
sent his regards to Messrs. Bell and Zollecoffer, of Nash- 
ville. We then returned to the hotel for the night. 

While strolling around the hotel corridors, that 
night, I met John A. Logan, a rabid democratic pro- 



« REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 267 

fessional politician. I had never seen him before but 
had often heard of him. The old " Whig " party and 
the new " Republican " had given him the sobriquet of 
" Dirty-Work Logan," because he was the ready and 
efficient tool of the democratic party and did many 
things which men of higher pretentions did not care to 
handle. 1 also heard of him in the Mexican war. He 
volunteered in that service in 1846, and joined the 
forces going through New Mexico and on through 
Chihuahua. He was very young and went more for 
the novelty than for the efficient patriotic service, but 
he was not a heavy weight to be hauled all day in a 
commissary wagon and was fresh at night to play an 
excellent game of cards, wiiich he made his principal 
business on the march and in camp. When 1 saw him 
in Springfield, he had been elected to Congress (of 
course as a democrat), but tlie skies looked lowering 
just then for democrats in general, although Logan, at 
that time, had no serious belief that there was going to 
be war between the States ; still he was a most wily 
politician, and no full-blooded Indian was never more 
alert on the war-track than was Logan on the scent of 
political possibilities. Logan was war}^ and calculating, 
and doubtless at that time was seeking pointers, like 
myself, from Mr. Lincoln. His position in Congress 
was not only valuable for revenue, but was in the line 
of promotion, and the Federal Government, with its 
immense wealth, offered a much better field for Lo- 
gan's purposes than could be counted on in the South- 
ern States. He was a democrat, it is true, but of that 
kind which made revenue and personal advancement 
the main object. No sickly sentimentality ever dis- 
turbed Logan's mind. He came from a lineage with no 



268 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

such weakness. He was emphatically '' on the fence," 
and waiting to hear from Egypt, before deciding which 
way to jump, and his best discoveries led him to stick 
to the political teat he then had hold of, rather than 
risk catching on to another of doubtful productiveness. 
The next day I left Springfield, via St. Louis, for 
Tennessee. I stopped over night in Louisville and took 
tea with Simon B. Buckner, who had resigned from 
the army in 1855 and was tlien living quietly in Louis- 
ville. I met several gentlemen at that tea or supper, 
all of whom were interested, at the time, in perfecting 
a re-organization of their State militia; and Buckner, 
being a graduate of West Point, with some years of 
experience, was looked to for advice in the matter, 
besides I think he was adjutant-general of the State. 
While those gentlemen, including Buckner, hardly 
believed war certain, yet they were quietly preparing 
for it in their re-organization of the State militia. 



CHAPTER XII. 

The next day I left for Nashville, and after a wash 
and supper at the hotel, I called on Mr. Zollecoffer, 
whose son-in-law, Mr. James Wilson, being present, 
kindly introduced me. Wilson had been an officer in 
my regiment, on the Rio Grande, in 1850, but had re- 
signed in 1851, married Zollecotfer's daughter and took 
his ease on the ample fortune his father gave him. 

I also met the Hon. John Bell, one of the defeated 
trio of candidates for the presidency, and to whom Mr. 
Lincoln had requested me to express his regards. Un- 
der the circumstances, it was natural that Bell and Zolle- 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 269 

coffer (both old line whigs and, so far, political friends 
of the old line whig, Lincoln), should want to knoAV all 
I could tell thera of Mr. Lincoln. I told them that I 
had never seen Mr. Lincoln in my life, till on that trip ; 
and that I stopped over specially at Springfield to see and 
interview him. I then gave them, verbatim, our inter- 
view. (I had kept notes, the night at Mr. Lincoln's 
house, as well as I could, and after going to the hotel I 
wrote it out in extenso and called at Wm. B. Ogden's 
room to have him assist my memory and correct any 
errors or ommissions. Odgen did this with pleasure, 
and asked me why I desired notes. I told him that I 
was going where people wanted to know the exact 
words of Mr. Lincoln, and in case I should have to talk 
and answer questions, I wanted to do so by the word.) 
I then related to Messrs. Bell and Zollecoffer all that 
passed between Lincoln and mj^self. Both of them 
looked and felt serious. They were opposed to seces- 
sion of States, but equally, and more so, to the spirit of 
John Brown's murderous and insurrectionary raids, and 
scheme to arm the negroes against their owners. Both 
men, however, still hoped for a peaceful solution of 
the troubles. 

During the next day I was called upon at my hotel 
by several gentlemen, and at 4 p. m. I dined at Mrs, 
McCall's, on Cherr}'^ street, having been invited by her 
son, James K. McCall, who had but recently resigned 
from the U, S. army. 

That evening Mr. Wilson and one or two otiiers 
called at the hotel to ask me if I felt at liberty to write 
a letter to Mr. Lincoln and suggest to him the policy 
and propriety there might be in Mr. Lincoln favorably 
considering the appointment of Mr. Zollecoffer to the 



270 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

position of postmaster-general. During the conver- 
sation it appeared to be the opinion about Nashville, 
(as those gentlemen stated it), that much of the preju- 
dice and alarm of the South at the election of a sectional 
president, would be removed by Mr. Lincoln appointing 
to his cabinet one, at least, of the old line conservative 
Whio-s of the South. I heard all they said, and think- 
ing the matter over I could not see anythingout of the 
wav in doing as the gentlemen suggested ; at the same 
time I felt sure Mr. Lincoln would consign my com- 
munication to the waste basket, with no other thought 
than to smile at the impudence of a pitiable captain in 
the army presuming to address the king ! However, I 
then and there wrote the letter as follows : 

Nashvii-le, Tenn., Jan. 10, 1861. 
Hon. a. Lincoln, Pres. Elect, 
Springfield, 111. 
Dear Sir : I have had the pleasure to meet the 
Hon. John Bell, and I delivered your message of kind 
regards, and he reciprocates your good wishes. I have 
also met several other leading gentlemen of Nashville, 
and the one topic above all others at present is the state 
of the political atmosphere just now — both North 
and South. 

I beg you will kindly pardon me for writing this 
letter, as I do so entirely at the request of the gentle- 
men here, who feel the greatest interest in the near 
future, and 1 am requested by these gentlemen (Mr. 
Bell one of them) to say to you that, in their opinion, 
much good would result if you, as the president elect, 
could see your way clear to appoint on your cabinet a 
man of note and competency from Tennessee. And 
they asked me to say that they would gladly have Mr. 
ZoUecoffer fill the place of postmaster-general. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 271 

I will ask you, sir, not to class me as a politician, 
nor in any wise competent to address you in this manner, 
but that I do so entirely at the request of gentlemen, 
some of whom you know, and who know you kindly 
and favorably. 

I am sir, 

Respectfully, 

P. T. Tdrnley. 

I had no idea I would ever hear from him or re- 
ceive any reply to my letter ; but, to my surprise, some 
days after, while at my father's in Dandridge, I re- 
ceived a half dozen lines in answer, stating that my 
letter had been received, and Mr. Lincoln desired his 
secretary to say that he had not yet matured his plans 
nor formed his cabinet. 

Of course, Mr. Lincoln or his secretary told a whop- 
per, which great men, in responsible positions, are al- 
ways telling, and I suppose they are fully justified in 
doing so. However, that was the end of any member of 
his cabinet coming from Tennessee, as I supposed it 
would be. I sent the letter to Mr. Wilson (Zollecoffer's 
son-inlaw), and I never heard from it or him thereafter. 

After spending a few days in Nashville, during 
which time I strolled through the State-house and 
called on Mrs. Polk, the venerable widow of deceased 
ex-president Polk, and whose brother-in-law, William 
Polk, I had served with in Mexico), I continued my 
journey to Chattanooga, where I was detained by high 
water. I had not seen Chattanooga since I was a small 
boy, away back in the thirties, when I was only twelve 
years old, and when the place was called "Ross Land- 
ing." I used to go there with my father on flat-boats, 
loaded with corn, bacon and whisky, bound for New 



272 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

Orleans (about the same kind of articles, it is said, 
Lincoln's father crossed the Ohio river with when leav- 
ing Kentucky). The place had grown quite out of 
my juvenile recollection, although it was still a dirty, 
muddy place, and all of its features showed it was a 
railway town, as well as a landing for boats. The 
heavv rains had caused washouts and landslides along 
the railroad toward Knoxville, and much work had to 
be done to resume travel by the cars. This, however, 
was remedied in a few days, and I proceeded on to 
Knoxville, where I stopped over a day or two to see 
some former acquaintances, but more especially to meet 
and converse with William Gan way Brownlow, whom I 
had known in my youth but had not seen since July, 
1846, as mentioned in previous chapter. I walked out 
from the little tavern where I had stopped to Brown- 
low's residence, found him in, but to my surprise he 
was quite averse to talking. My grandfather Turnley, 
who had lived for seventy years thirty miles east from 
Knoxville, was a zealous Methodist, as were all his fam- 
ily, and he was one of the first of the good old-time 
backwoods denizens in that county to welcome Brown- 
low's entrance as a young Methodist preacher, more 
than thirty years previous; and grandfather did many- 
things to push Brownlow along in his work, so that 
they were good friends till his death in 1848. I relied 
on this fact to give me a favorable presentation to 
Brownlow on this occasion. In politics, Brownlow had 
always been a whig and a bitter enemy to democracy, 
to the Yankee, and above all to the abolitionist, and 
he was nothing if not extreme. He owned a few slaves 
for house-servants and was always most violent in his 
speech against any move, or legislation looking to any 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 373 

interference with negro slaverj'. In this particular 
grandfather and he differed somewhat; for grand- 
father, while he was quiet in his speech and action as to 
slavery, heartily despised the system, and never owned 
a slave, tw?' would he peTr)iit one to do a day's work on his 
farm. Brownlow, on this occasion, was reticent, did not 
seem to realize, or even care, who I was, and I made 
ray visit as short as courisey, on my part, permitted ; 
as for politeness on Brownlow's part, it w^as not to be 
expected nor was I greeted with any. I learned after 
reaching my father's house, a few days after this visit, 
something of the probable cause of Mr, Brownlow's 
manner. Father laughed most heartily when I told 
him of the cold reception Mr. B. gave me at his home 
in Knoxville. It appeared that, from some mysterious 
inducements, Mr. B. had arranged to kiss Andy John- 
son and make up. Johnson was a life-long democrat, 
and had received more bitter denunciations from 
Brownlow the previous fifteen years, than any other 
man ; hence the greater the mystery, that all at once, 
the two should embrace ? Nat Taylor, of Carter 
county, another old line whig, and a former Presby- 
terian minister, who had preached in the pulpit against 
Hell and the Devil ; and on the political stump had 
exhausted his vocabulary denouncing Andy Johnson 
as the chief political Devil of East Tennessee, he too 
had embraced Johnson. So others thereabouts (form- 
erly bitter enemies of Democrat Johnson ) had relented 
and were casting their fortunes with their erstwhile 
hated Andy ! My father gave me some pointers on the 
great change, which I followed up, as I traveled east, 
and partially vertified in my own mind, as being per- 
haps true. I stopped some ten days with my father 

18 



274 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY 

(living five miles from Dandridge), it was mainly to 
make him a visit (the first for seven years) that I had 
taken that route, Dandridge was the place of my birth, 
and in its vicinity I lived till nineteen years of age. It is 
not strange therefore, that many of those who had 
known me as a boy, should call at father's to see me. In 
fact, for a few days I was called upon by so many 
good friends, that I almost pictured in my mind 
Mr. Lincoln's numerous callers at Springfield, Illi- 
nois. There was a great difference, however, in 
the two persons called on ; as well as in the 
motives and objects of the callers ! Lincoln was the 
great Mogul — the Lion of the nation — at least of the 
North, and his callers were after place and office, 
rewards and revenues. I was a small specimen of an 
army captain, who had only by chance seen the Mogul ; 
and my callers merely wanted to learn from me how 
the Mogul looked, and breathed and took his toddy ? 
However, my callers were men of character and serious 
thought quite as much so as Mr. Lincoln's callers, and 
desired more than to gratify a curiosity. The fact of 
my visit soon spread over most of the county ; also the 
fact that I was direct from Springfield, Illinois, where 
the king lived and meditated. I began to receive let- 
ters from many sources, asking me to meet and address 
the people thereabouts on the exciting questions of tiie 
day. I was at a loss to know how to reply to these 
requests. I was not a politician, nor a professional 
public speaker — besides, I was handicapped with all 
the then restraints against army officers meddling in 
political matters. I consulted my father in the matter. 
He was then over seventy ;years of age, was living 
where he was born when the river bottoms there were^ 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 375 

covered with cane brakes, and sheltered the Indians — 
and therefore he knew everybody and all knew him ; 
so I was warranted in confiding in his ripe judgment. 
He said he could not discover anything wrong in my 
meeting the people, and telling them, so far as I could, 
what I had seen and heard, and giving my own opin- 
ions as far as I saw fit, etc., etc. This determined me 
to at least meet the people ; besides I had tendered my 
resignation from the army when leaving Utah, to take 
effect at the end of my six months' leave, and part of 
my object in going on to Washington was to expedite 
the settlement of my public accounts and withdraw 
from the army. These things considered, I replied to 
some of the letters, which I append herewith and m}'' 
answers thereto, together with my address at the court 
house in Dandridge, Saturday, January 26, 1861. 

Dandridge, Tennessee, January, 21, 1861. 
To Mr, Parmenas T. Turnley. 

Dear Sir — Learning of your arrival in our village 
and that you are directly from Springfield, Illinois, 
we the undersigned residents of Dandridge and vicinity, 
feeling great confidence in 3'our good judgment and 
unprejudiced mind, and feeling a laudable pride in you 
as a native of Dandridge, do, most respectfully request 
you to favor us and all citizens of the county who may 
attend, with a public address on the present political 
excitement; and that you will give us your personal 
views as to the causes which have produced the present 
condition of things, and also what, in 3^our judgment, 
will probably he the ultimate results, and in your 
opinion may be the best course for our people of East 
Tennessee to pursue in the future. Believing also as 
we do, that your residence in Illinois must have made 



276 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

you acquainted with tlie views and designs of leading 
politicians in the North, and especially, to some extent 
as to what may be expected of Mr. A. Lincoln, the 
President-elect, after his inauguration, we hope to 
learn something more definite than the gleanings 
from the daily press. Hojiing you may accede to our 
request, and that you will name the time and place 
most convenient to yourself, we are 
KespectfuUy, 
^Y. D. Fain, ' S. X. Fain, 

J. C. Cruickshanks, I. T. Snoddy, 

C. R. Scruggs, I. A. Goss, 

W. M. Cruickshanks, Robert Hamilton. 

My reply : 

Dandridge, Tenn., January 22, 1S61. 
Gentlemen — I have the honor to acknowledge the 
receipt of your communication of yesterday, requesting 
me to favor the citizens of Dandridge and vicinity with 
a public address on the topics of the day, ''as to the 
causes of present political dissensions in our public 
councils, and the probable results soon to follow the 
crisis now pending," etc., etc., and requesting me to 
name a day when I can most conveniently do so. 

Thanking you, gentlemen, for the flattering terms 
in which you have been pleased to allude to my hum- 
ble abilities to review the subjects 3'ou have mentioned 
and with a full conviction of my own inadequacy' to 
the task, I would, under ordinary circumstances, beg 
to be excused from this duty, but, in view of the in- 
tense feeling, not to say alarm, which at this moment 
fills the mind of every citizen throughout our country, 
anil feeling as you do, tliat it is a duty incumbent on 
all to contribute, in every proper mode, to the full un- 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 



277 



derstanding of the questions which now distract our 
country, I deem it my duty to say that I will meet 
the citizens of Dandridge on Saturday next, the 26lh 
instant. I am, gentlemen, 

Yery respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

P. T. Turn LEY. 



To 



Sam N. Fain, 

I. T. Snoddy, 

LA. Goss, 

Itobt. Hamilton, 

^V. D. Fain, 

G. C. Cruickshanks, 

C. R. Scruggs, 

W. M. Cruickshanks. 



Esfjuires. 



Dandkidge, Texx., January 21, 1861. 
Major Parmenas Taylor Turnley: 

Dea?' Si/' — I understand you will {irobably remain 
in Tennessee a few days. As you have been living in 
the North for some time among the Abolitionists, I 
would like to hear a speech from you on Saturday 
next and give us your views, and think the people 
generally would like to hear you. 

Yours truly, A. B. Cowan.* 

reply: 
Oak Grove, Tenn., January 22, 1861. 

( Five m les from Dandr dge ) 

A. B. Cowan, Esq.: 

Dear Sir — I am in receipt of yours of yesterday, 
and in answer I will say that I have this morning 
replied to a like request signed by a number of gentle- 

* Mr. Cowan was a radical pro-slavery man and in early boy- 
hood a school-mate with me. — P. T. T. 



278 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

men of Dandridge, and I have named Saturday, the 
26th, as the time I will endeavor to meet and address 
the people at the court-house in Dandridge. 

Very truly yours, P. T. Turnley. 

Dandridge, Tenn., January 21, 1861. 
Parmenas T. Turnlfy, Esq.: 

Dear Sin — Recent events having thrown us upon 
perilous times, and there now being an impending cri- 
sis upon the country, even to revolution, and it being 
important that good men and patriots everywhere 
should commune freely with themselves as to what is 
meet to be done for the maintenance of constitutional 
rights, and knowing that you are a native of our coun- 
ty and must necessari!}^ feel a deep and abiding inter- 
est in our common country, and understanding that 
you have had opportunities of no ordinary degree to 
become familiar with the state of public sentiment 
North and South, therefore we most respect full}'^ solicit 
you to deliver an address to the citizens of Jeffer- 
son county, at the court-house in this place, and sug- 
gest Saturday, the 26th inst,, as a suitable time, and 
give us such counsel and sentiments as you may think 
proper and right. 

Yery truly, your obedient servant, 

W. B. Moore.* 

Dandridge.Tenn., January 22, 1861. 
W. B. Moore and others: 

GentJt'iiicn — I have the honor to acknowledge the 
receipt of your communication of yesterday, requesting 
me to address the citizens of Jefferson county on the 

*Mr. Moore was a non slave-owner, and, we ma}^ say, anti-slavery 
in principle, and the other gentlemen of both parties, but Tery con- 
servative, and anxious for peace and harmony. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 279 

subject of our present disturbed political affairs, naming 
Saturday next (the 26th insi.), the court-house in Dand- 
ridge as the place. 

I will meet and address the people at the time and 
place named. While I shall freel}^ impart my views to 
those who may desire to hear me, I hope and expect to 
■derive far more information and pleasure in hearing the 
views of others who may be there on that occasion. 
I am, gentlemen, 

Yery respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

P. T. Turnley. 
To 

W. B. Moore, 
Wm. O'Neil, 
John Mitchel, 

Jos. Mitchel, }- Esquires. 

James P, Swann, 
Wm. Hawkins, 
Wm. H. Cooke. 
All the above were conservative men — not favoring 
secession nor war nor coercion. 

In compliance with the foregoing letters of request, 
I appeared at the court-house in Dandridge at 12 m., 
Saturday, January 26, 1861. Snow had fallen four 
inches the previous night on wet ground, which made 
the roads dreadfully bad for travel. The village of 
Dandridge (the county-seat of Jefferson) was then and 
is yet a small hamlet of only a few hundred people — 
quiet, church going citizens, pretty evenly distributed 
between the Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist de- 
nominations, and every bod V, who is anybody, belongs 
to one of these denominations. The town is located on 
the rough slope of a limestone ridge, overlooking the 



280 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

broad and placid French Broad river, wliicli at that 
place runs nearly from east to west, the river being 
about four hundred yards wide, with a channel from 
fourteen to twenty feet in depth, and a current at an 
ordinary average stage of less than a mile and a half 
per hour; but when flushed by rains and raelting- 
snows (as it was tlien), the current w^as nearer four 
miles per hour. I was born in that village, but when 
three years old my father moved eight miles east to a 
farm lying along the same river, where I grew up to 
work on the farm (and in the mills which he built on 
it), until I was nineteen years of age. 

In 1841, I left there to seek an ^education in New 
York State (as detailed in a |)revious chapter) and this 
visit was the first time in twenty 3'ears that I had 
met, face to face, those who had known me as a boy^ 
and the first time I had ever seen the many who had 
grown from infants in that time. Everybody looked 
serious, and it was evident they felt as they looked. 
Althouo'h neio^hbors, and harmonious in most thino;s. 
yet they differed widely in political methods. In my 
boyhood days that county was whig in politics under 
the teaching and inspiration of Hugh 1.. White, of 
Knox vi lie, and Henry Clay, of Kentuckv, John Bell of 
Nashville, and others, but in later years, "Andy"' 
Johnson had changed the popular vote to the demo- 
cratic side. Johnson's home at Greenville was only 
thirty miles distant from Dandridge, and his late 
speech in the senate was a surprise to all, and ci'eated 
division of sentiment among the people. The tone and 
manner of the people as the}' assembled increased the 
doubt in my mind of the propriety of m}' speaking. I 
would then have declined to do so, but for the persua- 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIAR\ . 281 

sion of many old men who insisted I should carrj' out 
the program. The better to appreciate my then posi- 
tion, it is proper to state that I was, and had been for 
twenty years, an officer of the United States army, 
and a spirit of dislike existed to the army, and to 
army officers throughout the country, but more espe- 
cially among the rural people, who seldom came in 
contact with army officials. This feeling was, of 
course, the fruit of seeds planted by our ancestors a, 
centur}^ previous in their enmity to British troops, 
and a standing army, and such dislike had been 
fostered by every demagogue and stump speaker in the 
land ! Andy Johnson himself had done no little dur- 
ing his twenty years of political life, to hold up the 
army and all military organizations in our countr}' as 
the " enemies of the people." 

In fact, to caution the dear people against the mili- 
tary was the chief stock in trade of nine-tenths of the 
political mountebanks, whose fields of action were far 
removed from the large cities, and among constituencies 
not accustomed to see or mingle with the military of 
our frontiers. Knowing this, it was a hazardous experi- 
ment for me, even on the spot of my birth, and 
amongst those who had known my ancestors for a cen- 
turv to have been of the middle and lower laborino- 
classes, to assume to speak on the sacred topic of poli- 
tics to the sovereign masses, or to offer advice on po- 
litical matters of the day ! But I determined to know 
no party or policy ; and to speak to the mixed assem- 
blage candidly, what I knew to be facts, and then 
what I believed to be true, and to keep myself uninflu- 
enced b}'^ an}^ division of sentiment, prejudices or parti- 
alities, then existing among them ; for I knew the ig- 



2S2 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

norance of the average rural denizen on army matters. 
The bad roads delayed the arrival of the i)eople from 
the surrounding country, and it was not till 2 p. m. 
that I ascended the platform and began m}^ address. 
I had taken the precaution the night before to jot down 
in pencil on two dozen pages of legal cap about 
what I ought to say, and being at my father's 
house I submitted the same to his perusal and opinion. 
He was a life-long democrat of the "strict construc- 
tion type," anti-slavery in jyrinciple and theory, but 
pro-slavery under guarantees of the Federal Constitu- 
tion, and had become fighting mad at the spirit of 
aggression emphasized in the late John Brown's murder- 
ous insurrectionary efforts among the slaves of Virginia 
and elsewhere. Being then over seventy years of age 
he did not lake active part in politics. He had been 
active in previous years to make Andy Johnson what 
he was politically, but just at that time he was in a 
peck of troubles at Johnson's great speech in the 
senate. My old father was also aware of the divided 
opinion among the people of that county, and fully 
realized the wisdom of my speaking with care and dis- 
cretion far more than I could appreciate, and gave 
me cautionary advice, besides giving me some pointers 
as to individuals I had not thought of. And}' John- 
son's great speech in the U. S. senate, occupying 
man}'' hours in delivery only a few weeks before, 
bore the earmarks of vastly more learning than 
Johnson could, by any possibility, lay claim to. The 
research into laws and constitutional points indicated 
that more experienced and erudite statesmen than 
Johnson, had a finger in its composition. And, besides 
this, there was whispered around quietly that a large 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 283 

amount of money from Northern centers had 
been invested for the deliverey of some such 
speech against secession by some leading and popular 
democrat, of State's Eight doctrine, from a slave State ; 
the amount of money being placed all the way from 
fifty to one hundred thousand dollars, and that it had 
been raised by private subscription in the North express- 
ly to pay Johnson or some other State's-liight democrat 
of the slave States, for his grand effort and conversion. 
It was further remarked that a few life-long advocates 
of negro slavery in the South — Mr. William Ganway 
Brownlow of Knoxville, and Mr. N. G. Taylor of Carter 
county, both old line Avhigs, and always the bitterest 
enemies of democrats and of Andy Johnson in partic- 
ular — had recently, after Johnson's speech, thrown 
away the tomahawk, and rushed into Johnson's arms 
with vows of fealty ! Men of all parties were amazed at 
this ; but very few, if any one, had a key to the mystery. 
The averaire denizen of that backwoods had not then 
realized the efficacy of money placed where it would do 
the most good. It was a masterly stroke of policy at 
any rate on the part of leading Northern politicians 
(Wm. H. Seward at the head) to secure thus quietly 
the support of such men as Johnson, Brownlow, Taylor 
and a score of others, only recently the leading expo- 
nents of the pro-slavery doctrine, and residents in the 
midst of slavery ! No move could have been more 
opportune or far-reaching, and it was beyond doubt 
arranged long before the general public knew who 
would be Mr. Lincoln's cabinet. The money thus 
invested in Johnson's senate speech, if in fad there 
vms amj^ more than five times over compensated 
hira and his converted enemies for the value of 



281 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

the few family house slaves they possessed, and thus 
made them pecuniarily independent and brave to 
serve the cause of their Northern almoners, and it 
may be, too, their own convictions of ri^ht. Who 
dare say no ? 

But to return from this digression. The hour 
having arrived, and_^ the assemblage gathered in the 
court-house, I was somewhat disappointed that no 
person made a move to introduce me. Not a word 
preliminary to the object of the meeting was uttered 
by any person, nor even a move made to that effect ! 
I had then, at the very outset, either to decline to 
speak, or else bring into requisition my charitable 
leanings, and attribute this crude and unceremonious 
reception to two main factors : first, to the ignorance 
generally in tJje backwoods as to what should be ; and 
second, to the fear and prejudice dominating all minds, 
which made everv one a little afraid of his neighbor, 
and loath to incur the responsibility of introducing a 
speaker or make any allusion to the objects of the meet- 
ing! Under these impressions then, and standing two 
hundred feet from my place of birth, I at once began 
my address, first asking agentleman on the platform to 
read the letters requesting me to address the people, 
which ho did in a kindly and flattering manner ; at the 
close of his reading I stepped to the railing on the 
elevated platform or amphitheatre and addressed the 
assemblage as follows: 
Fellow-Citizens of Dandridge and Jefferson County: 

I thank you for the cordial manner in which you 
have requested me to meet and address the people here 
to-day on political affairs now exciting the public 
mind. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 285 

I beg to sa}', first of all, that I feel serious doubt 
in my mind whether it is proper for me to speak to 
you on politicial matters. It is true I live, nominally, 
in Chicago, and my family is there all the time, yet 
being an officer of the United States army for twenty 
years my duties are wherever I am ordered ; and there- 
fore, I live anywhere and everywhere, so to speak. 
Most of my life, since the close of the Mexican War, 
has been on the distant frontiers, and the last two 
years in Utah, in relation to the Mormon difficulties. 
I only arrived in Chicago four weeks past from that 
territory, and met my wife and children in Chicago 
for the first time since leaving them April, 1858. 

Before leaving Utah I forwarded to the War 
Department ray resignation from the army, and received 
in reply a leave of absence for six months. I am now 
availing myself of that leave, to attend to some private 
business and to visit my father (five miles from 
here), where I have been stopping for a few days. I 
shall leave Monday next for Washington City, to urge 
the final settlement of my public accounts, which ex- 
tend through more than twenty years of service, in- 
cluding the Mexican War. I am, in fact, tired of 
army frontier life, and desire to quit it, but cannot do 
so until my resignation is duly accepted, and my public 
accounts closed ; for I have been a disbursing officer 
most of the past twenty years. Therefore, my friends, 
the question in ray mind is : Will it be proper for me, 
still an officer of the array, to meet and address the 
people on political questions, and especially during the 
excitement now existing? Ordinarily, I certainly 
would not do it, but I feel the present to be the 
exceptional occasion, and, above all, I believe the good 



286 REMINISCENCES FROxM DIARY. 

people here assembled, many of whom have known 
my parents since I was born, and knew me from my 
cradle until I left here twenty years ago, have claims 
on me stronger than mere sentiment. Standing as I 
now do, on the spot where I was born, convinces me 
that I owe to you, old and young, a duty paramount to 
any rules of expediency in such matters. I have, there- 
fore, yielded to your call to be here to-day, and all I 
ask of you in return is to accord to me sincerity of motive, 
perfect conviction of the truth of what I shall say, and a 
heartfelt prayer for the well-being of every soul in this 
county. I must speak candidly or not at all. I am 
ignorant of your political differences, and know nothing 
of political parties ; therefore, what I shall say will be 
to every individual, whatever may be his party lean- 
ino-, and however much 1 may seem to differ from your 
conceived notions or views. My life since I left you 
twenty years ago has been one of varied experience, 
but all the while a life of diligent study and close obser- 
vation. I know the general prejudice among the rural 
population against a standing army (as it is called), 
which means, with you people, the regular army of the 
United States. While I have been and am yet in that 
armv, I have never lost sight of the citizen nor of the 
political machinery and constitutional basis of our 
government. I beg you, therefore, to listen to me, not 
as an officer of the army, but as a citizen of the United 
States; and not even as a citizen of Tennesseer but 
rather as a cosmopolitan ; a looker-on at events, and a 
friend to all, yet a blind devotee to none ! In fact, my 
friends, you have manifested a spirit of fairness in the 
wordino-of your call on me to speak, and have expressed 
a belief in my freedom from prejudice and party bias. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 287 

on the questions of the day, and all I ask further is 
that you will do me the justice to receive and ponder 
what I shall say in a like spirit of freedom from prej- 
udice. 

First, you ask me what has produced the present 
state of excitement; what will be the result: and lastly, 
what can I advise as to the most proper course in the 
future? Also, that I may be able to give you some 
information as to the views of politicians of the North, 
and possibly of the probable action of the president- 
elect, Mr. A. Lincoln. The field you have assigned to me 
is wider than I can cover in a discourse to-day, and I 
suspect you had in mind one of the voluble stump 
speakers of the period, who, I believe, make a practice 
of speaking the entire day and exhausting all subjects, 
moral, political, religious and social. I am not one 
thus gifted, but Avill try to touch on most of the points 
you mention, however briefly. 

First, as to the cause of present excitement. Of 
course, every politician, North and South, if asked this 
question, will answer, " The cause is Negro slavery ; " 
but, such i.< not the entire case, nor the prime cause in 
fact. Slavery m me Soum is an ayiamalistic excres- 
cence on our system of government, but it is the occa- 
sion to put in active motion other and more remote, but 
real causes. The dissimilarity of human nature 
between the Puritans of the North and the flat-head 
cavaliers of the South is the foundation — the bed rock 
cause of our political wrangling and disputations. God 
Almighty, or the powers of creation, created men to 
differ ; and so they have always in the past and will in 
the future differ. The many recurring events around 
us serve only as the reasons, the excuses dcnd the occasioriy. 



288 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

as I have said, for this hostility of natures to break 
forth. Passions are now pretty well aroused, but these 
passions are not of sudden growth, but have been for 
a long time growing in this government. The seeds of 
this antagonism are as old as man's creation and 
undoubtedly fills one of the creative power's special 
designs. It was centuries ago transplanted to this 
continent, and has grown here just as it grew elsewhere 
thousands of years past. Greatl}'^ dissimilar natures 
cannot work in harmony unless controlled by a stron- 
ger power than paper laws. Therefore, I say, Negro 
slavery is not the cause of present enmity between the 
people North and South, but it is the immediate and 
potent factor in putting inio active ojyeration this 
antagonism, much of which comes from a loss of con- 
fidence in the efficacy of our form of government ! 

So much, then, for the cause of all this excitement. 
What will be the result? you ask. Well, as a man is 
not received as a prophet in his own country, I ought 
to hold my tongue and not attempt to answer this. 
But, while I am very deferential to other people's opin- 
ions, yet I generally try to have my own, and so far I 
have tried to cultivate the courage of my convictions. 
Before I. do this, however, I will reply to your inquiry 
as to the views and probable course of the president- 
elect, Mr. Lincoln. I shall give you as nearly as my 
memory serves me (even more accurate than memory, 
for I took notes at the time), and shall speak by the 
card. Leaving Chicago two weeks ugo, I traveled in 
the cars to Springfield (Mr. Lincoln's home), in com- 
pany with two of my Chicago neighbors, the Hon. 
John Y. Scammon, one of the most active republicans 
and a leading lawyer of the State; and the Hon. Wm. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 289 

B. Ogden, perhaps the wealthiest man in Chicago, the 
first maj'or of that city, and a democrat in politics. 
Both Scammon and Ogden have been members of the 
Illinois legislature. Being well acquainted, we con- 
versed freely on the political topics of the day, and I, 
being only an officer of the army, was not a party man 
in politics. I told those gentlemen of my intended trip 
through Kentucky, Tennessee and to Washington, and 
that I was going by way of Springfield for the sole 
purpose of seeking an interview with Mr. Lincoln on 
the political affairs of the day. I also told them that I 
was an entire stranger to Mr. Lincoln and requested 
them to do me the favor to introduce me to him. It 
is proper for me to tell you, also, that, boastful as 
American people are of democracy, social equality, 
freedom from the restraints and formalities of royalty, 
and all such, still it is a fact that it has become, in 
these days of wealth, power and ambition, very diffi. 
cult for an humble person to get access to a high 
official ; and the throngs of politicians now at Spring- 
field, from all parts of theJS^orth and West, would amaze 
you. In fact, I doubt if there is a man in this assem- 
blage who could gain admittance to Mr. Lincoln for a 
conversation unless accompanied by some politician of 
note or a personal friend of Mr. Lincoln I Knowing this I 
made sure of my visit by securing a good introduction at 
the start, and Messrs. Scammon and Ogden accompanied 
me to Mr. Lincoln's house the evening we arrived in 
Springfield. I discovered at once that Mr. Lincoln 
was tired. He was lying on the lounge in his parlor, 
having had visitors all dav by scores, coming and ffoino:. 
I also knew of Mr. Lincoln's aversion to the militarx'^ 
in general, and fearincf this might extend even to a. 



390 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

personal dislike of an officer he had never seen or heard 
of, I requested my two friends to please omit title, or 
military appellation. This they failed to do and spoiled 
it by calling me '' Captain " Turnley of the army, but 
I soon broached the object of my visit. I told Mr. 
Lincoln that I was on my way through Kentucky, 
Tennessee and Virginia to Washington, and that I 
expected to meet many personal friends in my travels 
who would most certainly ask questions which I might 
not be able to answer, and in order to do so I had 
stopped over expressly to have a talk with him. That 
as an American citizen I merely wished to hear his 
views on the excitement of the day, and, so far as he felt 
disposed, I would like to know what he believed to be the 
exiirencies of the future. ^Mr. Lincoln reclined on his 
sofa, or lounge, Scammon and Ogden (and two other 
gentlemen whose names I do not recollect) were in the 
parlor. After a few moments' quiet, after I had expressed 
the object of my visit, Mr. Lincoln began to talk, and 
appeared to speak frankly and willingly. I was careful 
to note all he said, and on my return to the hotel I at 
once entered it in my note-book, as accurately as I 
could recollect. I shall therefore read to you from my 
notes what Mr. Lincoln then said, and you will be the 
better able to draw your own conclusions. Said Mr. 
Lincoln : " It is too soon for rae to say what I shall or 
shall not do after I am clothed with the important duties 
as president ; the most I can now say is what I hope and 
believe, and you are at full liberty to say to all whom 
you meet, and to Mr. John Bell especially, should you 
meet him, that 1 do not believe that the present outward 
excitement in the South is so deep or so wide-spread as 
many believe, but I think that quiet will ensue 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 291 

after the 4th of March. In this I may be mistaken, 
but such is my present feeling. Wi)en clothed with 
executive powers as president I shall do nothing unusual 
or out of the usual course of previous presidents, but 
shall merel}' execute the laws in all of the States as 
heretofore, carry the U. S. mails, collect the revenues 
and hold the U. S. courts. I hope and believe that no 
serious obstructions will be offered to carry ing into effect 
these duties; but, should resistance be offered, then 1 shall 
be compelled to use such force as may be necessary to- 
enforce the laws and mamtain the constitution over all 
the States. I believe, Captain Turnley, what I have said 
answers 3'^our inquiry ; if not, please let me know what 
further I can say to make it plainer."^! replied that 
bis answer was quite satisfactor}' in one respect, and 
might be, perhaps, all that could or should be stated 
on the subject, and at all events what he had said 
would enable me to answer general questions; this 
seemed to please Mr. Lincoln, and (readjusting his 
position on the sofa) he began to ply me with ques- 
tions and asked me how long I had been in the army, 
where I had served, also where I was born and if my 
parents were living and if they were slave owners '. I 
replied that I was born in this village of Dand ridge, 
and that my father was born only eight miles from the 
same place, and was still living there; that my grand- 
father served as a private in the Revolution of 1776, 
settled therein 1786, lived there till his death in 1848, 
that none of my family were slave owners excepting 
one or two might have house servants b}' inheritance, 
I continued and gave him a brief outline of my twenty 
years of military service, and that I was then still in the 
ami}', etc., etc. 



292 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

Mr. Lincoln heard me throuo-h and then continued 
to ask me questions. He desired to know what I 
thought of tho political situation and what people in 
the frontiers thought. As I have stated, while in the 
cars, I had conversed freely with Messrs. Scammon and 
Ogden on these matters and they knew quite well 
what I believed, but I had some doubts as to the 
propriety of expressing myself so freely on political 
subjects to the " president-elect," who in a few weeks 
Avould be the commander-in-chief of the army in which 
I was but an inferior officer. '^ A moment's reflection^ 
however, convinced me that I owed it to my friends 
who had accompanied and introduced me to be as 
frank with Mr. Lincoln as I had been with them, and I 
then said that " being an officer of the army I was 
rather debarred from discussing political matters ; but, 
nevertheless, I most certainly did have very strong con- 
victions of probable future events, and that I was per- 
fectly willing to say that I felt no doubt but what 
many h?tates in the South would secede from the Union 
by ordinances of secession or by conventions held for 
the purpose, and that they would not permit other 
than their own laws to be in force thereafter. That 
such action won! i bring two opposing forces into con- 
flict at once." ^ Mr. Lincoln then asked me many ques- 
tions as to the army and where it was stationed, etc., 
which I answered so far as I could, and then in a good- 
humored manner he turned to Scammon and Ogden 
and said : '' I do not inquire about the army because I 
expect to have to use it, but merely for information 
from Captain Turnley, whom I suppose to be convers- 
ant with the subject ; but as he is a military man 1 will 
just like to get at his ideas of what force he thinks it 



REMINISCENCES P^KOM DIARY. 293 

probable any of the Southern States will brin^ in to serv- 
ice to oppose the execution of the United States laws I 
have mentioned," and continuing to address those gen- 
tlemen, he said, "these military men have great ideas 
of the soldier, and of armies, and are disposed to lose 
sight of our civil forces, which are generally quite able 
to maintain the peace and enforce the laws without 
bullets and bayonets. While I may be mistaken, yet I 
believe that the civil authorities will be sufficient in the 
future. But if little South Carolina gets too obstrep- 
erous, it may be necessary to use a regiment of picked 
volunteers before all is quieted in that State and the 
laws are fully in force." ^Then, turning to me, he said, 
^^'Xow, Captain, such are my views. What do you 
think about it? I would, at least, like to know what 
a professional military man thinks of it (we politicians, 
of course, know all about it already), and if we differ, 
let us see how far we differ. "w/ This, of (;oui»se, left me 
no alternative but to decline to answer further, or else 
to speak candidly what I sincerely believed, and Mr. 
Lincoln assuring me that he really desired my honest 
•convictions, I replied, that he and I differed widely 
as to the probable events of the future; that I believed 
secession was inevitable; that a force to execute the 
laws in a seceded State would, instanth% bring up an 
opposing force, and that if he meant to use force enough 
to execute the Federal laws in those States he had best 
begin with, not one regiment of volunteers, but first 
organize more than a hundred regiments, into an effi- 
cient army. "This will take time; and while you are 
doing this, those seceded States will be doing the same 
thing; and, finally, in six or eight months, Mr. Lincoln, 
when the stronger side is readv, the fight will begin. 



294 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

While I do not expect to take any part in it myself, yet 
I will venture to predict that sevei"al hundred regi- 
ments on each side will be rallied to the conflict before 
it will end, if conflict once begins, and from your pro- 
gramme and the action of the leaders in the South, it 
must begin. Such, Mr. Lincoln, are my views, can- 
didly expressed, and I can only hope that I may be, 
more mistaken than you are; but, with the lights be- 
fore me and the political passions that are now at fever 
heat, and the character of the people North and South,. 
and of the leaders on b()th sides, I can not see, any 
other results than a big war in the near future." ^ 

This closed our interview. The hour was late (near 
midnight), and my two friends with me retired to our 
hotel, bidding Mr. Lincoln good night. 

I have thus, fellow-citizens of Dandridge, given 
you with precision, what passed between myself and 
Mr. Lincoln, the president elect, and you can judge as. 
well as I can, wiiat mav be his action after the 4th 
of March next. 

I have, also, in this narrative, disclosed to you 
mainly my own views, so that little more neeil be said 
even on that point, unless it be to emphasize some por- 
tions of it. ^ Mr. Lincoln says he will execute the 
federal laws in all the States, and will use no more 
force then may be necessary. This, therefore, tells us 
at once, what secession will meet; on the other hand, 
secession of many of the States is as certain to occur as 
that the sun will rise after next March. 

This, then, makes war inevitable, and- the result of a 
war no man can foretell, least of all such a Avar as this 
will be. Neither North or South is prepared for war 
at present, but will as rapidly as possible prepare for 
it when it begins. ^ 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIAKV. 295 

Now, as to the causes which have brought this state 
of affairs about. It is a serious matter for me to pre- 
sume to state, frankly, the immediate causes of impend- 
ing conflict (heretofore only political, but now to be- 
come one of deadly weapons on bloody fields). If vou 
ask the Northern politician what is the cause, he 
answers, "It is Negro slavery accompanied by the 
aggressive arrogance of the Southern slave owner. " 
And he is sustained and supported in his assertion by 
all those men called Abolitionists, who hate not onlv 
Negro slavery but the owners of slaves as well, parti v be- 
cause of overbearing arrogance and dictation bv many of 
the slave owners, and partly because of religious hatred. 
If you ask the Southern politician the cause, he answers, 
" It is the aggressive inroads, constantly and persistent- 
ly made during the past quarter of a century on the 
constitution and laws respecting 'State's Rights," and 
the tenure as well as the morality of Negro slavery in 
the South, by Northern politicans as well as by the 
civil officers." I will say that to a great extent both 
answers are true as to the immediate incentive to con- 
flict. We have not the homogeneous populations in 
our country which many suppose, and nearly all assume 
to exist. Then, again, the often repeated theorv that 
people least governed are governed the best is losing 
its force and believers. The sparsely settled Southern 
States, of rural life and habits, almost entirely agricul- 
tural make you ignorant of the very different condition 
of the people north, composed as it is of an exceedingly 
mixed population in which everv nationalit}' from 
semi-barbarous to civilized forms a part, while the 
whole mass is concentrated on small area, crowded in 
fact into large cities, into large factories and manufact- 



2% REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

uring- districts, (lemandinc^ a much stronger and central- 
ized government for their control than do rural and 
agricultural populations. This causes a growing desire 
for stronger civil government in the North. You 
people of the South (or vour lawmakers) have been, 
from far back, foremost in mviting foreign population 
to this country, little heeding the protest of the thought- 
ful men in the North. This foreign population has 
poured in by hundreds of thousands annually (scarcely 
a soul of which ever enteretl a slave State) till the prob- 
lem of how to control and govern that heterogeneous 
mass of human spawn composed of good, bad and 
worst of all nations, became the absorbing question 
more than thirty years ago. As a first step the jieople 
of the North set about utilizing the best capacities of 
those immigrants, in every line of work and business in 
field, factory and shops until they have come to like 
the new blood, brawn antl muscle. But, this state of 
things has also called foi- a stronger government to 
control those elements, and 1 will state that much of 
the incentive to present action of the North comes from 
this desire for stronger government. Then, again, the 
customs, manners and religion of the people North and 
South differ more than most of you realize. In this 
you have always differed in a measure, but in the past 
halfcenturv his difference has fi'reatlv increased. 

AVhat we call civilization is not the same in the 
Puritan and in the Cavalier, even less alike now than 
Avhen this government was organized; the difference 
has existed for man}' centuries and it was not the scope 
and design of your paper constitution to interfere with 
this difference, but personal and sectional interests have 
been almost reversed durin^j the past half century. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 297 

Free trade and sailors' rights are not only obsolete in the 
New England and some other Northern States, but the 
principles expressed, once powerful, are now obsolete, 
and free trade which cuts off the tariff tribute wliile it 
protects involuntary or slave labor tribute, is exasper- 
ating in the extreme. Your slave labor in the South 
has become a huge barrier to the efficient organization 
of wage labor in the North, so that it has become a 
matter of money, not of morals, which cries out against 
your labor system. Mr. Seward, a senator from the 
great State of New York, uttered a |)ure and simple 
truth when he said '' There is an irreconcilable antao-- 
onism or conflict between slave labor and free labor," 
by which he meant Negro bond labor of the South and 
the wage labor of the North ; as a matter of course Mr. 
Seward desired his declaration should go forth and be 
construed in a moral as well as in a temporal 
sense, because the moral phase would influence the 
sympathetic and enthusiastic humanitarian, while the 
temporal and utilitarian phase would enlist the efforts 
of the avaricious money getter and practical business 
man. 

As I have just said, Negro slavery is an excrescence 
on our system of government. I hope I shall not be 
misunderstood in this or any other utterances to-da3\ 
I am not a slave-owner, although born and brought up 
in the midst of slavery. Neither am I an abolitionist 
nor one who favors and sanctions the unlawful inter- 
ference with Negro slavery where it exists ; but I am 
certainly justifled in saying that in the face of the 
Declaration of 1776: "We hold these truths to be 
self-evident. That all men are created equal ; that they 
are endowed bv their creator with certain inalienable 



298 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

rights ; that among these are life, liberty and the pur- 
suits of happiness." I say, in the face of this declaration, 
on which our experiment of government is founded, I 
am surelv warranted in saying that the Xegro slaver}^ 
existing at that time in the country was an anomalistic 
excrescence, utterly at variance with the declaration of 
those sixtv or more men in knee-breeches and rntiled 
shirt bosoms then assembled in Philadelphia. It was, 
and is a poisonous, cancerous ulcer on the bod}' politic. 
But, no doubt, those men then believed it to be expedi- 
ent to let it continue. They could not then from their 
standpoint, forecast the development and the condition 
of this country three-fourths of a century in theii' future. 
In many ways this servitude has been a great benefit to 
nine-tenths of the Negroes. But their very improve- 
ment and their increase in numbers and efficiency has 
brought them face to face with more skilled competitors 
in lifVs labors, while our rapid and increased facilities 
for intercourses and trade sets ever\' man to thinking, 
and induces the impulsive enthusiast to destroy where 
he cannot control oi- modify. iS^ot a few people in all 
communities are ignorant or indifferent to the laws 
that protect them, while many others are defiant of all 
law, becoming a law unto themselves. This is ])ai'tially 
the condition with the John Brown men in the North. 
Slave labor is sure, constant and obedient, but not 
profitable or progressive as comj)ared with wage labor. 
The slave is fed, clothed, hotised, nurtured in infanc}^ 
and cared for in old age, without very much regard to 
the value or amount of work he performs. His labor 
is at best of the simplest, unskilled and least produc- 
tive of cash values, while the white, free laborer of the 
North has no possible soui'ce of temporal comfort or 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 299 

support save alone by constant personal exertion^ late 
and earh', to earn the daily pay current in his com- 
munity, of which he alone takes all risk and responsi- 
bility. This leads to ten-fold more exertion on the 
part of the wage laborer than exists in the slave, and 
develops invention, brings unnumbered thousands from 
all nations of Europe to compete with each other, 
which, in fifty years, has developed the natural and 
artificial resources of the North ten-fold greater than 
has occurred in the South. In fact, thf^ South has, in 
comparison, stood still physically. While the North 
counts her wealth by thousands of millions in actual 
dollars, the South counts her wealth only in lands and 
slaves, neither one of any value to produce cash with- 
out the other, and both together producing, for half a 
century past, only raw material, the very offal of 
which is not retained at home, and the profits of 
which go to the skilled laborer or his employer 
in the North, who utilizes the crude material. 
These are facts patent to the world, and the 
ver\' weakness of the Souchern States invites aggres- 
sion from the stronger and richer Northern States. As 
before stated, it is money which makes wars all over 
the world and T\ot' morals. This is the age of progress 
in wealth making. Wealth is power, and power rules 
forever and everywhere. Your own communities in 
the South verify this every day. AVhen a man among 
you accumulates sufficient wealth he gets out of 
patience with his unprosperous and shiftless neighbor, 
and either buys him out or else drupes him away. Just 
so with Nations or States, and just so will it be be- 
tween our North and Soutii. The more advanced, 
wealthy and powerful press more and more on the 



800 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

neigliboring State, which is far behind, and which they 
come to believe impedes their material progress. All 
this, ray friends, onl\^ serves to emphasize the fact that 
the progressive civilization of tiie two extreme portions 
of this country are w^idel}'^ different, and the result will 
be that the stronger in the end will win the victory. 
By civilization, I refer not to moral elements but to 
wealth and its advantages, because this governs na- 
tions, and not moral sentiment. Greater is the pity, 
possibl}'. 

But, my friends, there is still a fii'st and greatest of 
all causes of the impending conflict which 1 have not 
yet mentioned, and to which, perhaps, 1 ought not to 
allude. And yet, whv may I not openly and frankly 
state what the chief and primary cause is? Surelv I 
need not conceal what I most devoutly believe to be 
a fact — and a fact, too, which existed before your fed- 
eral constitution was formed. Mind you, I say federal 
constitution, I do not say national constitution, for 
the reason that in 1787 the great majority of the peo- 
ple of the then provinces believed they ratified that 
paper, as a federal, not a national contract. Human 
government is a complex piece of machinery. Just as 
our separate, individual lives are a constant warfare 
between conflicting desires and emotions, so is the con- 
trol and government of tlie multitude a constant con- 
flict between political theories and systems. Men in 
the world are not alike — and the most that was aimed 
at in our paper constitution was to so unite the colo- 
nies, or States, wliether few or many in number, in a 
written compact for self-protection in all its members, 
but leaving the individual as free to act as the compact 
allowed. This we called the o^reat American consti- 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 301 

tution. But such form of government never pleased a 
larffe number of men in the Northern Colonies and 
States, who deeply and conscientiously disbelieved in 
popular government of that maliocrotic kind. That 
class of our then statesmen (Mr. Alexander Hamilton at 
the head), most strenuously and conscientiously, too, la- 
bored for a powerfully centralized government, such as 
the monarchial governments he was born under, and 
which they liked better than our proposed federal sys- 
tem, because the highest power acted at once on every 
individual as well as on a community. Hamilton was an 
aristocrat by lineage, birth and education, and could no 
more change his political inheritance than can 3''our 
darkest negro turn his skin white. Nor was Hamilton 
alone in this wav of thinking — thousands of leading 
thinkers between 1783 and 1787 deprecated above all 
things the free and flexible character of that paper 
constitution. They worked hard, and succeeded in so 
eliminating some portions and modifying other por- 
tions, till finalW the States ratified a confused, imper- 
fect and ambiguous paper called the federal constitu- 
iron. This is the chart, or compact, which is in dis- 
pute to-day, and let me prophesy here now, that the 
blood the thirteen colonies shed to secure the privilege 
of writing and ratifying that paper, is not a tithe of 
what their descendants will shed in the near future in 
their angry contentions as to its meaning and limitations! 
In fact, my friends, your boasted paper constitution I 
don't consider, and have not since I could read and un- 
derstand it, worth the paper it is written on I It is be- 
cause the people have trusted to this constitution as an 
idol to be worshiped, that you have drifted into pres- 
ent troubled waters. Power is the onlv constitution 



302 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

on earth or in heaven which guides and controls man, 
and this power conies from wealth, intelligence and 
from material progress in all temporal affairs — one sin- 
gle individual ma}' be, and constantly is, more or less 
influenced by what we call mo)'al sentiment — but no 
collection of men, such as the populace, or an army, 
have ever been influenced by any code of morals save 
alone that of power! This power is to be the arbiter 
in this country as it has been the world over, since God 
made Moses, and the weaker will share the never failing 
fate of weakness. 

I think it is not for me at present, to go any further 
into causes of impending conflict, and if you will par- 
don me I will close by one word of advice to the good 
people of Jefferson county. When war does come, as 
it most certainl}"^ will, it will have no respect of per- 
sons or of political parties — all parties will be in the 
ranks, all will feel its hardships and suft'er its pains; 
but it remains with every township, district, county 
and State to reduce the hardships to the minimum by 
avoiding personal altercations and neighborhood broils, 
b\' ever}'^ man joining the army on that side, in the 
contest, which he prefers to serve, and then the families 
of such, who remain at home, should rest quiet and 
peaceful in the spirit and belief that their neighbors 
are acting in accordance with their convictions of right. 
In other words, agree peacefully to disagree, and thus 
neighbors can live in harmony whWe j^owers ^vq in con- 
flict, with the Lord ever on the side having the heaviest 
battalions I You people here cannot change results no 
matter what you do, therefore you best do as little as 
possible. 

I know there are many among you who feel (very 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 303 

justly too) the bitterest resentment against Abolition- 
ists. The secret organizations by Northern citizens, 
aided by foreign mercenary immigrants, to create 
insurrection among your slaves, is proof of that hatred 
I have mentioned. Even if the president-elect were 
free from that hatred, which he may not be (consider- 
ing his life-long environments), he W'Ould still be power- 
less to control it in others, and the slave-holding States 
are at this time in precisely the condition of some 
of the South, and Central American States, when in 
constant apprehension of invasion by filibusters, with 
the exception that organized filibusters, act openly and 
design no brutal or barbarous treatment to the invaded 
populace, further than what political achievement 
necessitates — while the John Brown class of filibusters 
is secret, and permeates hundreds of hamlets and 
households in the North and the South alike, and is 
moved by the strongest impulses that can actuate men, 
namely, love of money, and dislike for bond slavery, 
and all who advocate and defend it. They are wild 
fanatics whose rage is increased by your impolitic 
course I 

This spirit in the Northern non-slave-holding States 
has been increasing steadily for seventy years, largely 
among those who honestly dislike the Constitution, until 
the people, native and imported, have outgrown consti- 
tutions and laws on man v issues, but especially as relate 
to slavery in the South, and thereby the lack of full 
control over wage labor in the North. The people of 
the slave States mav well be alarmed, for you are living 
over a magazine with enemies holding a fuse and torch, 
with ample power to light it at will, while Southern 
politicians are hurling at them a challenge to light it! 



304 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

Daring them, us it were, to move ( liJut this is not your 
greatest ilanger. The leading men all over the South 
are to-day mainly responsible for the superior strength 
and enmity of the Northern leaders, and are entirely 
responsible for the weakness of the South! Six 
millions of whites with four millions of slaves are in no 
condition to cope with twenty millions of whites in 
the Xorth. rich in every resource, and most ailvanced 
in everv line of mechanical skill necessary for war 
makinir, and rich enouuli in monev to hire soldiers of 
every nationality on earth and even recruit their ranks 
from t/onr own Jire^idefi ! On the other hand, the 
South is poor almost to the verge of helplessness at 
present, save only in the courage of vour men. But 
eoura2:e is not all that is needed in war; manufactories 
and war implements, you have none worth the 
name. Yet, Southern statesmen and politicians have 
for forty years, and especially during the last twenty 
vears. indulged in very intemperate denunciation of the 
theories and political doctrines of Northern men which, 
however ditfering from your own. yet are deej^ly enter- 
tained in other men's minds and deserved, and required 
for vour own safety, a more serious consideration and 
a more calm discussion than impulsive denunciation 
and expressions of defiance. Self-confidence is the 
first element of weakness, and putting aside for the 
moment all questions as to the moral phase of slavery, 
or slave labor as compared to wage labor (which in 
most other nations is wage slavery), I say, there is no 
moral question involved, and we must look at the 
actual facts as illustrated in human nature. Our 
American States, above all other nations we know of. 
are progressive, not stationa w. and men will think and 



reminiscencp:s from diahv. 305 

theorize quite as much in pohtics and government as 
in religion, and as the world's intelligence outgrows 
religious dogmas, creeds and formulas of confession of 
former periods, so do people outgrow political 
theories and constitutions and laws, and become so 
impressed with what they think are evils and heresies, 
like Luther in the Roman Church, that they cry out 
against the old and in favor of the new departure ! 
Men of the South have not heeded this spirit, but have 
treated it with an impatient lack of confidence and re- 
spect which mea of scholarship and of deep study, in 
the North, will not accept in silence. Southern men 
have seemed to rest in the belief that the world stands 
still, and only the sun has motion ; in other words, the 
Southern leaders believe that the antiquated paper con- 
stitutions and obsolete laws still retain their original 
force among otherpeo])lesaswith themselves; butthis is 
not the case. You make and re|)eal laws constantly, so 
must progressive States make over and alter their con- 
stitutions, or else put a stop to thought and discovery, 
and anything like progress; either this or come to vio- 
lence and revolution. It is absurd to deny the fact 
that we have outgrown our jwper constitution. The 
lack of this spirit of calm inquiry and deferential treat- 
ment on the part of many leading Southern men has 
made enemies of those who had otherwise been j)atient 
and conservative. ^ The president-elect , Mr. Lincoln, 
portrays the whole future in expressing what he shall 
do after inauguration. He cannot do otherwise, even 
if he personally desired to, because the leaders and the 
masses of the people whose servant he is, and who have 
elected him, will not permit him as president 
to do less than thev demand and that he has 



306 REMINISCENCES FROM DIA.RY 

stated he will do ; not that all of the people 
North are thus inclined, but the vast majority and con- 
trolling element of them are ; and the more powerful 
element, be it few or many, will force Mr, Lincoln to 
do their biddino;y While, on the other side, in the 
South, nothing short of secession from the Union can 
or will be listened to by the leading and controlling 
forces of the Southern States, not because all are jusc 
now in favor of secession, but because the ruling spirits, 
aided by sympathv or State pride, fireside patriotism 
and famil}' ties — even race affinities — will speedily 
become active incentives to defend homes and native 
soil without regard to the morality or questions of 
difference. It is very true some will not be influenced 
by such surroundings. Not a few men in this world, 
in all races and nationalities, never feel impressed with 
any other than purely selfish and material conditions ; 
are, in fact, like the average European immigrant, ready 
to fiffht in anv armv or nation and on anv side which 
promises the greater money reward I Others may be 
timid and retiring, and will seek shelter and safety 
regardless of consequences to his neighbors. In the 
North and South alike, conflict will develop all these 
characters after hostilities are once commenced. Not 
those who now demand war, North or South, will always 
be found, where danger is greatest ! Others must do the 
fiofhtino- when the hour comes ! But, wars never go 
backward because of such. In fact, wars never cease 
from the earth, and never will, but everv recurrence is a 
resumption of a previous war. The Southern people, 
if sagacious, unselfish and determined, will speedily form 
relations with other nations by which thev may hope 
to cope with a vastly superior force, and thus secure 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 307 

their separation or at least prevent subjugation. Other- 
wise the South will be vanquishedand slave and master 
alike become victims of conquerors, who will be all the 
more exacting because of their own great losses in men 
and property. Personally I shall be a looker on in all 
that is going to take place, viewing men and measures 
with the cold eye of criticism rather than with senti- 
mental emotion. Yet all the while and forever wish- 
ing safety and harmony to the people of this my native 
village and country. May God bless you all. 

CHAPTER Xlll. 

Monday morning, January 28, two hours before 
daylight, I left m}^ father's to resume my trip to 
Washington, on the East Tennessee & Virginia rail- 
way ; and a little after sunrise, when in sight of the lit- 
tle town of Greenville, the home of Andrew Johnson, 
the cars ran off the track and we were stopped in the 
mud — only a few hundred yards from the Greenville 
station. I got out of the car and wandered around the 
village for a half hour and got a cup of poor coffee, a 
boiled egg, and the ever present fried chicken, then 
returned to my car. In a short time some gentlemen 
of the village entered the car and inquired for a man 
of my name, to which I responded. They had learned 
of my speech in Dand ridge, two days before, and came 
to ask rae to address the people in the court-house in 
Greenville. Mr. E. Arnold was the spokesman, accom- 
panied by two or three others. He stated that they 
lived in the village, and handed me a written request 
to speak at the court-house that forenoon, of which 
the following is a cop}' : 



308 kp:miniscences from diary. 

Greenville, Tenn., January 28, 1861. 
Mr. P. T. TuRNLEY : 

Dear /S//-— Learning that you will be detained in 
our place until the one o'clock train to-day, and know- 
ing that you now reside in the North, and that you 
were born in the South and in a neighboring county 
in our own State, and believing that you desire the wel- 
fare of the South in the present difficulties, we would 
like for you to address the citizens of our town at the 
court-house to-day at 10 o'clock, and give us your views 
as to the policy they should pursue under existing cir- 
cumstances, and also to inform us, as far as you can, as 
to what is the true feeling of the Northern people in 
regard to the South in tlie present crisis. 

Your obedient servants, 
K. Arnold, 
H. G. Kobertson, 
S. P. Crawford, 
Geo. W. Fonte, 
Robt. A. Crawford, 
Hartsell Good, 
Jas. McSunwodv, 
Mat. Wilson, 
J. C. Marstin. 
I told them I would send them a written answer 
within half an hour, for which they thanked me and 
departed. I went at once to the men at work re-adjust- 
ing the cars, and learned it would be only a few hours 
until our train could start, so I entered the cars and 
sent the following answer to the gentlemen named : 

On the Cars, Tuesday, 8 a. m., Jan. 28, 1861. 
To R. Arnold and others: 

Gentlp:men : Your note of this morning has just 
been handed me, requesting me to address the })eople of 
Greenville at 10 o'clock this forenoon at the court- 



REiMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 309 

house, and I will say in reply that the detention of the 
cars will only be for a few hours, and the time appears 
too short for the people to assemble even if I were sure 
of having more than the hour's time, and it would be 
impossible for me, in that short time, to meet and say 
much to the good people of Greenville which they do 
not already know. But I will, with pleasure, be at the 
court-house at 10 o'clock to-day, and will gladly impart 
whatever information I have to those who may there 
assemble as to the feeling of the Northern people 
towards the South just at this time (so far as 1 can 
judge). Very truly, 

P. T. TURNLEY. 

To 

R. Arnold, 
H. G. Robertson, 
Geo. W. Fonte, 
Eobert A. Crawford, 
Hartsell Good, 
Jas. McSunwody, 
Mat Wilson, 
J. C. Marstin. 

In half an hour the little printing office had struck 
off many flaming hand-bill posters, a foot square, in 
large letters, reading as follows : 

(Poster.) 

PUBLIC MEETING. 

P. T. Turnley, of tlhicago, Illinois, and formerly of 
Jefferson county, Tennessee, will address the citizens of 
Greenville and vicinity at the COURT-HOUSE to-day 
at 10 o'clock, A. M. 

All who want to hear facts of thrilling interest to 
the country in the present crisis are invited to attend. 

Jan. 28, 1861. 



310 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

I improved the time in the car to jot down in pencil 
about what I felt it prudent and proper for me to say^ 
and when 10 o'clock arrived I was in the court-house. 

(Address.) 

Citizens of Gkeknvillk : I never felt more out of 
place than at the present moment, and if I could impart 
to you the reasons for ray embarrassment I feel sure 
you would appreciate the situation. I spoke in the 
court-house in Dandridge last Saturday, within astone's 
throw of the spot where I was born, and to an assemblage 
of people among- whom I grew u]) to early manhood,, 
but whom I had not seen since I left them twenty 
years ago to enter college in New York. 

When I graduated at the United States Military 
Academy, June, 18-16, the Mexican war was just be- 
ginning, and I at once entered that campaign and 
served till its close, and have been ever since in the 
military service on the distant frontiers, my last serv- 
ice being two years' tour in Utah, from whicli I only 
arrived in Chicao'o to meet mv familv four weeks past. 
On the 15th of the present month I left Chicago by 
way of Springfield, Illinois, Vvhere I stopjieil over 
twenty-four hours for the express purpose of seeing- 
the president-elect, Mr. Lincoln, and then continued 
my journey by way of St Louis, Louisville, Nashville 
and Knoxville, then stopping a few days with 
m}^ father near Dandridge. At this hour I am on my 
way to Washington City. Before leaving my post in 
Utah I tendered my resignation from the arm}', but in 
answer thereto I received a leave of absence, and I 
am now on that leave, but my resignation not yet 
having been accepted by the president, I am still an 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 311 

officer of the United States arm\\ You will, therefore, 
understand that, for me to appear before an assem- 
blage of citizens to speak on political matters is not in 
accordance with the general sentiment of the people 
at large, nor consistent with the proper duties of an 
army officer. At the same time I do not conceive that 
I am debarred from meeting the citizens in my native 
village and vicinity as Greenville is, and returning a 
respectful answer in person to your communication of 
this morning. I had a similar request made to me last 
week by the people ()f Dandridge, and 1 spoke in reply 
thereto, at greater length than it is practicable for me 
to do on this occasion, but will here rej)eat briefly 
part of what I then said. I spent some hours with Mr. 
Lincoln at his house in Springfield, and we conversed 
one night in his parlor until a late hour, on the dis- 
turbed condition of the countr}'. After a desultory 
conversation, generall}^ 1 put the question directly to 
him as to his views for the future. 

I being a stranger to him, and not a politician, but 
a subordinate officer of the army, it was not strange 
that Mr. Lincoln, in view of the high and responsible 
office to which he has been elected, manifested some 
hesitation in giving his views, l)ut I had partially pro- 
vided for this by taking with me to his house the 
Honorables William B. Ogden and John Y. Scammon, 
both leading citizens of Chicago and neighbors of my 
family, to introduce me, and under this favorable 
introduction Mr. Lincoln was more inclined to talk; 
and without repeating all he said it is enough to say in 
reply to my question that he had no other policy in 
view, after assuming the duties of his office, than to 
execute the laws as required by the Constitution, and 



312 REMINISCENCES FROM DLVllY. 

b}' his oath of office, and stated further that he would 
carry the mails, collect the revenues, and hold the 
courts. He further stated that he did not believe any 
military force would be necessary to do this, but 
should such be the case, then he would use such force 
as the necessities might require. "• In any event," said 
he, '■ I think one or two rec^iments of volunteers, 
together with such of the regular army as may be 
available, would be all sufficient for the purpose." Mr. 
Lincoln then took his turn putting questions to me. and 
asked me, as a military officer, what I thought as to 
the military force to be used, and whether I thought 
the force he had named sufficient. Of course I was 
not prepared to answer so grave a question ; because in 
the first place I was not assured that Mr. Lincoln was 
seeking from me information, and secondly, I well 
knew that he was, like the great majority of citizens, 
disinclined to credit any professional military man 
with political knowledge, and still less to accord to 
such political freedom of either thought or action. 
Keceiving from him, however, assurances that he 
really did desire me to exj^ress my views, I frankly 
replied, and told him, as I have told others, and as I 
will now repeat, namely, that '• if you use any military 
force at all, you will require not one or two regi- 
ments and a part of the regular armv, but hun- 
dreds of regiments, and all of the regular army, 
besides." Mr. Lincoln was in the best of humor 
(as were all those present, — Mr. Ogden, Mr. 
Scammon and qne or two more gentlemen) and 
he really seemed to feel no uneasiness as to the 
future, and I felt at the time as though he was merely 
quizzing me for his own and the company's amusement. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 313 

However, I tri-adually became convinced that both he 
and others present did desire my views, and therefore 
I frankly gave them. Now, my friends, it is a fact 
which no intelligent man, North or South, East or 
West, can be ignoi'ant of, that Mr, Lincoln, who in a 
few weeks will be the chief executive of this govern- 
ment, and the entire republican party of the North 
are sincerely and heartily opposed to Negro slavery, 
and have been growing more so and increasing in num- 
bers rai)idly for forty years past. So deeply and con- 
scientiously is this sentiment felt, that many of them 
had much rather see the Union dissolved than to con- 
tinue part slave and part free States. Not so with the 
mass of the democrats of the North. While many of 
them are also morall}'^ opposed to slavery, yet they prefer 
things should remain as the}^ are, rather than a separa- 
tion of the Union or interference with slavery. Be- 
tween these two parties in the North there is active 
and exciting differences just at present, but the deep- 
seated opposition to slavery has attained such large 
proportions that it will henceforth overpower all other 
questions in popular vote. These are facts which you 
and all men have to acknowledge. Now, as to your ques- 
tion in regard to the South in the present crisis, I will say 
that the political, religious and moral sense of the leading 
spirits in the North being arrayed against this Negro 
slavery, the incoming administration will not be able 
to ( ompromise, even if otherwise willing to do so, in 
any measures likely to be acceptable to the leading- 
men of the South, who are determined to defend their 
constitutional right to continue Negro slavery. In 
fact, the intense hatred of a large portion of the North- 
ern people to the institution of Negro slavery has to a 



314 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

ffreat extent drifted into a dislike to the owners of 
slaves personally (much increased, too, because of the 
latter's brusque and sometimes impolitic temper in de- 
fense of their course), and to those who even approve 
of such bondage, and advocate its continuance or ex- 
tension. Therefore, when hostilities once begin, as I 
now see no prospect of averting, it will rapidly expand 
into a general war, involving all parties, States and 
interests ! 

You of Tennessee cannot escape involvment in the 
issue, however much you may desire. It is not enough 
to say the slave States hold such propert}' by terms of 
the federal constitution and are promised protection in 
the same by statutory laws — this is all true, but people 
outgrow constitutions and laws based thereon, and 
when such jirevailing sentiment attains power, as it 
now has, nothing is so futile and weak as a paper con- 
stitution or paper laws. Revolution is the previous 
question and is always in order, and the secession of 
the slave States from the Union will be no less revolu- 
tion now than in 1776. This previous question was 
called by the last election, in the North, and is now 
being called, in the South, by action^ as well as loords! 

Lastly, you ask me what policy I would advise the 
Southern people to pursue under existing circumstan- 
ces, and this question, fellow-citizens, reaches quite be- 
yond the limits of my power to answer, or that of an}'- 
other living man. The most lean do is to express my 
belief as to the near future, and leave you to judge for 
yourselves as to what ma}' seem most expedient. 

In the first place, Mr, Lincoln is not candid or else 
he is entirely mistaken as to the military force which 
he thinks will suffice to carry out his expressed pro- 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 315 

gramme of executing the Jaws. My opinion is that Mr. 
Lincoln is too smart a man not to see war is inevitable 
and that he was really quizzing me, while in fact he 
was and is mapping out plans for a colossal war force ! 
But Mr. Lincoln will do just what he says, and the 
Northern people will back him to the full requirements. 
In the second place, the Southern leaders are greatly 
mistaken in supposing for one moment that secession 
from the Union will be acquiesced in without war; our 
paper constitution will not prove a barrier to coercion, 
and if need be subjugation. The very moment force is 
used on either side, there will be no limit to the extent 
of force that will be brought forward to meet force, 
and no man, at this time, can presume to forecast the 
result. Now, this means war; and many of you no 
doubt will consider me an alarmist, and naturally so, 
because a prophet has little grounds to claim honor in 
his own country ; but I promised to speak candidly 
what I believe, and if I did not sincerel\'^ believe that 
before man}' months this country will be involved in a 
gigantic war I would not have answered your call, and 
appeared before you this morning. You have my 
opinions and some of my reasons for them ; and with 
sincerest wishes for harmonvand o-ood feelinos in Tenn- 
essee, I will close, and resume my journey on the cars 
which I see are nowM-eady. I thank you for your con- 
fidence, your appreciation, and for your kind and re- 
spectful attention. With my heartfelt wishes for 
harmony and good feeling among all my East Tennessee 
brethren, I bid you good-bye. 

After this address I returned to my car and was 
soon on my way again towards Washington City. 
When leaving my father he placed in ni}' charge a 



31(i REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

young man eighteen or nineteen years old (one of his 
wards), to see iiim safel\'^ delivered at Emory & Henry 
College, not very far from Abingdon, Virginia, and I 
had to stop off there to introduce him to the chief 
officer of the college. This caused me to lay over one 
train and required me to get up in the night. The lad 
was an uncouth farmer's bov, briijiit enoucjh in his 
way, but of head-strong, wild disposition, and inimical 
to discipline or restraint. In fact, he was a wayward 
chap in manv wnvs, and father thouijlit if he could be 
placed in college he might possibly drift into the rou- 
tine of study and better habits. I entered his name 
on the college roster, paid the installment required and 
had a short conversation witii the superintendent as to 
the boy's home life and surroundings, so as to give the 
su})erintendent a fair knowledge of the character he 
would have to deal with. This done, I took tea at the 
students' table, had a few hours sleep till the train 
arrived, then once more resumed my trip. Meanwhile, I 
gathered some information concerning the recent mur- 
der of student Atikins. of kSouth Carolina, as was 
alleged by a son of W. G. Brownlow, also a student. 
From what I could gather, young l>rownlow killed 
his fellow student with a billet of wood, which fact 
produced on my mind the im])ression that young 
Brownlow was a fair type of his bully father in 
Knoxville. 

I arrived in Washington January 30, 1861, and 
took a room at the National Hotel. After a clean-up, 
and a little rest and refreshments, I made the rounds 
of the departments, especially the War anil Treasury 
departments, and the various auditors, to request 
that my public accounts be taken up and settled. I 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 317 

then paid my respects to General W infield Scott, 
whose headquarters were in Washington. I there met 
for the last time Colonel Robert E. Lee, of the United 
States Cavalry, and who was either on leave or on 
some special duty. General Scott had a remarkable 
memory of persons and facts, and as soon as he learned 
my name he knew I was from Utah. lie called me to 
mind at once and pli(;d me with questions on many 
subjects connected with Utah and the troops there. I 
told him I was on my first leave of absence for four 
years, and I had only called to expedite a settle- 
ment of my public accounts, which extended as far 
back as the Mexican War service; that I desired to 
leave the military service just as soon as my accounts 
could be closed. I was standing, at this remark, ready 
to leave ; the general rose from his chair and put his 
hand on my head, saying: "No, Captain Turnley, 
this is not the time for you or any other officer to 
resign. Now is the time every officer is wanted at his 
post, and if your resignation reaches my office, I must 
withold it." I told him I had been virtually all mv 
army life on the frontiers, and was heartily tired of 
the mode of life ; that I had just come in from Utah to 
meet my wife and children in Chicago, whom I had 
not seen since April, 1858 ; that there had got to be 
entirely too much political favoritism in the War 
Department in detailing officers for distant frontier 
services, some of them being kept all the while beyond 
civilization, while favorites enjoyed the comforts of 
good posts in large cities with but little to do. The 
general admitted the truth of my statement, regretted 
it, and said it would soon be different. I wondered if 
he expected the man soon to succeed John B. Floyd 



318 KEMIXISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

would prove to be an}^ better? We parted, however, 
and it so happened we never met thereafter. 
That day I made the rounds of the Capitol, both 
houses of Congress, saw and heard the excitement, and 
learned the feelings of uncertainty as to the future. 

At the National Hotel also stopped, Andrew John- 
son, then a senator, who had drawn the eyes of all the 
South on him by his late union, or anti-secession, speech. 
I had not seen him since July, 1846, when I passed 
through Greenville on my way to New Orleans 
to join my regiment, then en route to Mexico. On 
that occasion I staid all night in Greenville with 
my father who was there attending court, and 
stopping at the tavern. Johnson, I think, was 
then governor of the State and lived not far from the 
tavern ; he and father being personal and political 
friends, we concluded to call upon him that evening. 
Father introduced me as his young lieutenant son, 
just from West Point and on his way to the seat of 
war on the Rio Grande, etc. 

Johnson, while complimenting me on my successful 
course at West Point, and my soldierly appearance, 
vet had to air his demagoguery by deprecating what 
he called the "evils of a standing army in our republic,'' 
etc., etc, I heard him through, but felt too modest to 
o-ainsay anything he had uttered, absurd and ridicu- 
lous as it was; but at the village tavern, where I shared 
a room with my father, I delivered myself freely, not- 
withstanding father and Johnson were the closest of 
democratic brothers. Father was at that time nearly 
60 years of age and Johnson was only about 37 or 38, 
and had been boosted forward as a politician from 
earlv manhood by my fathers untiring efforts. While 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 319 

father did not share Johnson's pecuhar views as to the 
regular arm\', yet he was disposed to put a charitable 
construction on that and some other traits of Johnson's 
character. 

But to return to my narrative. Being at the same 
hotel in Washington with Johnson, I looked him up, 
but found it very difficult to catch him at leisure 
enough to converse with him. Finally one night, 
learning he was in his room, I sent my card up and 
word came back for me to go up. I did so and found 
his door open and he alone, pacing the floor of his large 
parlor-room, as if in deep thought, or anguish of mind ; I 
stepped inside the door and stood there for several sec- 
onds of time before he seemed to realize I w^as there, and 
even then, he merely turned to me in a listless sort of way, 
reached out his hand and mechanically pointed to a 
chair. I sat down in a dead silence which was not broken, 
save by his footfalls on the carpet, for as much as five 
minutes. I thought the man was demented ! I felt as 
much non-plussed as he looked distracted I I soon 
satisfied myself that any progress in conservation 
devolved on me. I began to think that Johnson was 
either demented, or he intended to treat me with con- 
tempt, so I broke silence b}'^ sajnng, " Finding myself 
in Washington, Senator Johnson, and just from a visit 
to my old father, near Dand ridge, I sent my card up to 
you to pa}^ my respects before I leave for Chicago, but 
finding you apparently absorbed in matters of deep 
interest, I will not intrude but will call another time." 
He replied, " I thank you. Captain Turnley, very much, 
and will be glad to see you any time when at leisure." 
Whether he meant at my leisure or his own I knew not, 
but was not long making my exit. That was the last 



320 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

call I ever made on " Andy " Johnson, except once 
Avhen I called on him at the White House, just before he 
vacated it, with my wife and two little daughters, when 
he was very cordial. That night I wrote my father an 
exact narrative of my visit to Johnson, with plain 
English expressions of my opinion of the man, and told 
my good old daddy I had more than enough of his 
protege's crotchetry, idiosyncrasies and colossal egotism, 
and had made up my mind to give him a wide berth in 
future. Which I did, excepting the visit above with 
my family. 

After one more day in Washmgton, learning all I 
could of the feeling on the political muddle of that 
time, I left for Chicago by way of New York. In 
New York, I called to see Ambrose E. Burnside, a 
graduate of West Point in 1847, but who had resigned 
from the arm}' and was then secretary of the Illinois 
Central Railway with office in New York City. Burn- 
side and I were three years cadets together and in- 
timate. In fact, I had been his guardian angel more 
than once while we were Cadets. I was a quiet and 
studious cadet officer, while "' Burn" (as he was called) 
was a rollicking, jovial fellow, and would take his last 
blanket under his arm, at midnight, go a mile to Benny 
Havens and "drink it down." He was a good hearted, 
whole-souled fellow in his way, but his way was his own 
way! Burnside knew I had been stationed in Utah, and 
when I related to him recent my trip from Chicago, via 
Springfield, Nashville, etc., to Washington, he was anx- 
ious to learn all about the feeling of the country on pol- 
itics and what '^ Old Abe '^ said. I told him everything I 
knew, and had learned. I also told him my own settled 
convictions of an earlv war, but he was more incredul- 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 321 

ous than Lincoln affected to be or Bell, or Zollecoffer 
tried to believe. "However," said Barnside, in that 
interview, "Turnley, if there is to be war, I shall have 
to close out here and go south; Old John Brown 
has brought this on the country, and was very properly 
hanged. While I don't like Negro slavery, yet I am for 
law and fair dealing and too man}' of my fi-iends are 
in the South to permit me to desert them, or make war 
on them." He then named over many of his Southern 
friends, Max}^ of Kentucky, Pickett and Heath of 
Virginia, and others, and closed by saying, " Of course, 
you will go south to Tennessee." I replied that my 
intention, before leaving Utah, was and is to resign from 
the service entirely ; and in any event I did not consider 
myself in any way responsible for the public discontent, 
nor that I was under any obligation to take service 
with either side, or faction. With this our interview 
closed, and I repaired to the hotel. I left that night 
for Chicago where I arrived, over the Erie 
Koad, Febi'uary 5, 1861, and found mv wife and 
two little girls, Emma and Mamie, all well. Being 
once more at home with my family, I was content to 
rest and watch the growing excitement of the i)eop!e 
all over the countrv, at the signs of secession and war. 
A few days after my ari-ival, Mr. Lincoln left Spring- 
field, for Washington, through Ohio, Harrisburg, 
Philadelphia and Baltimore, to avoid any suspected 
attempt to do him harm. He was finally itistalied 
President without molestation. I am not writino' the 
history of the war, and shall not therefore ;ittemj)t to 
give anything connected therewith excepting mv ))er- 
sonal work and experience with those with me J 
rested in Chicago till Apr-il,wlien laa;iin left Coi- W;i-li- 



323 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY 

ington, to hurry up the settlement of my public 
accounts, taking Ilarrrisburg in my route, where 1 was 
dela\^ed for a few hours, during which, to my surprise, 
Fitz-John Porter served me with notice, and an order 
from General Scott to the effect that my leave of ab- 
sence (not yet half expired) must terininate at once, and 
I must return to duty, and for the present to report to 
Governor Curtin, then in the state-house, for such work 
as might be necessary to accommodate volunteers then 
arriving at Ilarrisburg. This was a snap judgment on 
me I did not like. I tried to argue Porter to view it 
as I did, and let me go on to Washington, but he was 
obdurate ; so I yielded and repaired to the Governor's 
office and reported to him. The Governor was not a 
military man, nor a commissary, or skilled in the hous- 
ino; or feedino: of soldiers. In fact, he did not know 
what he did want, or need in the premises, and deferred 
everything to me. Of course, the required work was 
exactly in my line, that of locating a camp and cooking 
for volunteers. So I looked over the ground, selected 
a site suitable for a camp, and had lumber delivered 
and carpenters at work in twelve hours, erecting tem- 
porary shelter, cooking conveniences, etc. 1 called on 
the Governor to learn how many soldiers I should pro- 
vide for, and he said, he supposed five hundred or a 
thousand ! I ventured to suggest, that it had better be 
made for three or four thousand, or at least be so 
planned and arranged that it might be enlarged at 
least labor and expense. This was agreed to, and in 
three days I had accommodations ready for over ten 
hundred men, and everj^thing convenient to enlarge it 
as needed. 1 certified to vouchers for the work and 
materials, but I never knew who paid them. Having 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 323 

done this much, I requested the Governor to relieve 
me and allow me to proceed on via Philadelphia to 
Washino-ton, and he did so ; but required me to report 
to General Pattison then in Philadelphia. I reported, 
as required, and was again ordered on duty ; first to 
Perry ville, then to Annapolis where I was kept till 
July converting that naval school into an army depot. 
Arriving at Annapolis, I found Captains M. S. Miller 
and Daniel H. Pucker, of my department, hard at 
work making the change of that naval station into an 
army depot. Both officers ranked me and had been 
there for two weeks, but were anxious to leave for 
Washington and only waiting for some officer to 
relieve them. They Avere hilarious, overjoyed, when 
they learned I was there under orders for duty ; and 
it was not many days till they had turned over all 
money and property, as well as current orders, and 
both left for Washington City where they were given 
duties more congenial to their tastes, and in proximitv 
to their families. As for me the feeling with them 
seemed to be that it made little difference, — since my 
absence from my familv for more than two years 
made it a matter of no importance whether I had mv 
family near me or not — That was the last time I met 
Miller or Pucker until after the "Cruel War." I 
rapidly converted that station into a general depot 
and rendezvous for volunteers passing through to 
Washington. I laid a mile or more of rails, so that the 
cars could come into the depot, cleaned the harbor of 
vessels from the eastern cities loaded with supplies. One 
of those vessels is worthy of being embalmed in my 
reminiscences. It was the Kill-van-cool from Boston 
or JSew York, and contained among other thinos five 



334 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

hundred thousand pounds of dried cod-fish! For a 
land-lubber, like myself, the smell of one pound of it 
was an ample feast! I finally got the stuff trans-ship- 
ped on a small vessel to Washington City. I have no 
doubt the noble sons of Puritan sires luxuriated on the 
mnmmyized carcasses from the briny deep. It was 
there I met for the first time Gen. Benjamin F. Butler^ 
in command, and of course my superior officer, whose 
orders I had to obey. Butler had just then been ap- 
pointed major-general from Massachusetts, green 
in all military matters, and equally so in the legal 
and regulation details of the care and disburse- 
ment of property and money. He was entirely 
pleasant and agreeable to me, both personally and offi- 
cially ; only one thing occurred there to mar our official 
intercourse, and that I must relate. In breaking up 
that station, the naval officers' mess had to be closed, 
and the chief navv commander there had to vacate, 
and close up his housekeeping by disposing of much of 
his furniture. Included in this was several hundred 
dollars' worth of table silver-ware, which he induced 
Gen. Butler to purchase, as it was supposed to be 
just the thing for a general's army mess, in the field, 
Butler bought it on account of the United States, and 
sent the bill to me, as disbursing quartermaster, to 
pay! I laughed at the thing at first, and, of course, 
declined to pay any such bill; but Butler insisted; so 
I made a virtue of necessity, and drafted an order from 
the '" general commanding" to write on the bill, in 
duplicate, and sign. Of course, I made the wording of 
the order most stringent and peremptory, and then paid 
it. It was more than a year after when that part of 
mv accounts reached the auditor of the treasury de- 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 325 

partment, at Washin^'ton, who stopped the wliole 
amount against me^ until I called his attention to But- 
ler's peremptory orders. That relieved me, and it was 
all charged up to Butler. I never heard how lie got 
through with it. It w^as a time, liowever, when offi- 
cers of high rank and strong political pull, 'ike Butler 
and Fremont, could settle almost anvthino:. Having 
finished m}' work at Annapolis, I was ordered to report 
to John C. Fremont, then in New York Ciiy. I 
reported the day of the first J^ull Run battle. Before 
closing my reminiscences at Annapolis, however, I will 
relate a I'A'^ incidents worthy of note. In the first 
place, the War Department came to the conclusion, from 
the wholesale resignation of army officers of Southern 
birth, that it was necessary to add to the oath taken at 
West Point (when entering as a cadet). Accordingly, 
Lieut. PuLnam, of the engineers, was sent around to 
all posts and commands with a newlv printed extra 
oath for officers to subscribe to. And he called on me 
for that purpose. I read over the new oath, and 
handed it back to him sa3'ing, " I do not consider it 
necessar}' for me to add to or take from my oath taken 
as a cadet. Nothing put into the new oath could make 
the old one any more binding." He left me and I 
heard nothing more about it until I visited Washington 
some weeks after; when I called at the adjutant-gen- 
eral's office, I w^as asked why I declined to sign the 
new oath. I replied that any person who will read the 
oath that 1 had taken as a cadet, in 1842, must see 
that it covers all that could be covered, and I consid- 
ered the new oath merely the result of a craze, or a 
scare-crow for cow^ards. That is the last I ever heard 
about it, and I never took the new oath. 



3'2C REMINISCENCES FROM DIAKY. 

C)ne other incident 1 think iswoiih ivhiting. as sliow- 
ins: the sentiments entertained bv old and honest, intel- 
ligent and patriotic men. Doctor David Kntter. of 
Cliicajio, my wife's father, a native of Pennsylvania^ 
but since IS-tS a resident of Chicago — an old-line whig 
in politics, retired fj-om practice of his profession, but 
alive and active in all the political phases of his coun- 
trv, antl ripe in years, being in his sixty-first year of 
age — wrote to me on May 30th as follows: 

• Chicag(», May 30, 1S61. 
Captain P. T. Ti rnlky, U. 8. A., Axnapolis, Mn. 

M;/ P'lir Ciij>t<iiii: 1 have leained that you have 
been placed on duty at Annapolis, and 1 hope yon are 
pleased with the service. Mary has joined you before 
this, and 1 hope she will make it all the more [lieasaiit 
for you at that ])lace. AVe kept the children witli us^ 
because we thought it best. 

Now, Captain, 1 do hope that the fact of your 
being a Tennesseean will not influence you in fixing 
your position in the dreadful troubles now beginning. 
1 beg you will stick to the government as the only 
hope for safety. 1 know you have a lather, kinsfolk 
and friends in the South, but you also have wife and 
children and friends in the North, therefore, I {>ray 
you .will lu>ld on to the government, and so long as you 
do any duty, it will he on the siile of the goveinmeut. 

Sincerely, 

D. lirTTKK. 

The above was received with other nuiil nuittei- June 
1, 1S0»1, at my office at the Naval School, Annapolis, 
Maryland, while 1 was overrun with work, vessels 
arriving from New Yotk loaded with supplies to be 
either forwarded on to "Washington, or else unloaded 



lUvMIMSOENCES FROM DlAJiV. 327 

and sent by cars. In fact, while I had a dozen assist- 
ants, yet I was overwhelmed with work, day and 
night. Mr. T. Bailey Myers, of New York, was one 
of my assistants at the time, and a most excellent l>us- 
iness man. Sorry 1 have never met him since. On 
June (') I received another letter. It was from hjv old 
father, near Dandi-idge, Jefferson county, Tennessee, 
then in his seventieth year. The letter above given, as 
I have stated, was from my wife's fathei", Dr. David 
Rutter, in Chicago, and the one below (received six 
days afterward), from my own father, is as follows : 

Dandridgk, May 31, 1861. 
Captain P. T. Tirnlky, U.S.A., Annapolis, Md. 

3ff/ Dr^ff/' Son : I received your brief note of 20th 
inst., telling me where to direct a letter, and I 
avail myself of the information. I note what you say 
of the excitement in the Korth, etc., but I am more 
concerned about my own section of the country, and 
our people in East Tennessee. Secession is a fixed 
fact ; although it was not my method of proceeding, 
still, like the declaration of July, 177C, against England, 
it has been issued, and must now be sustained, or else 
we of the South will faie ten times woi'se than our col- 
onial people would have fared, had our ancestors failed 
in securing their indei)endence from England. The South 
and North were then ur.ited in fighting a foe 3,000 miles 
off. ]Vo/'\ the f/f'/i iiii'iii'd Q.ve d'ls u/iitrd,, and every in- 
dication is that war is imminent, as you stated would 
occur when you were here. If the Northern people per- 
sist in coercing the South, it is plain that the North 
repudiates the requirements of the United States con- 
stitution, and the very basis on which the Declaration 
of Independence was founded. To preserve the union. 



328 REMINISCENCES FROM DIAliV. 

as they assert, is a mere cloak and subterfuge. Union 
of all llie States is, of course, thslrnhh,, under equal and 
fair justice to each and all the States alike, not other- 
wise. ISTegi'O slaver}' is no worse, but in fact more hu- 
mane now than it was in 1776. A forced union is the 
very opposite of that liberty the colonists fought Eng- 
land to achieve, and if the Northern States now begin 
war, to foi'ce tlie unwilling States of the South to con- 
tinue in a government, which the North itself hi\s been 
the first to decry and condemn as a "League with the 
Devil and a covenant with Hell,"" then, indeed, has the 
Northern people been hypoci'ites and liars from the 
beginning, and the sooner our Southern States separate 
themselves from the Europeanized North, the better. 
You predicted a war when you visited me last January, 
in your speech in Dandridge. Surely it seems to me, 
that von of all men, ought now to be most assured of 
his duty to his native home and friends, for, if war is 
to be our portion, then it will very soon be impossible 
for a Southern-born man of honesty and pati'iotism to be 
welcome or trusted in the North, no more than a North- 
ern-born man can be trusted or relied on in the South. 
With an honest man, worthy of his ancestors, love of 
home and fireside must and will direct his course; but 
for men not honest, who seek for ])ower ami fame, such 
will be found where their price is paid. I say to you, 
my son, leave the federal service, and either come and 
be one of Tennessee's defenders, or else retire from both 
sides and pursue vour private business. This is my 
heart-felt desire, and I shall hope soon to receive a let- 
ter from you telling me such is 3'our course. 
Affectionately, your father, 

John C. Turn ley. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIAKY. 329 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The foreo:oino: letters, one fi-om lather, the other 
from father-in-law need little comment from me. The 
writers typify the spirit and leanings of the divided 
j)eople of the United States at that period without 
passion or prejudice. Each was sincere in liis opinions, 
one strivino^ to induce me to <ro south, tlie ot lier- to 
remain witli tiie United States army north. The 
bloody conflict wliich followed, ceasing for the time in 
1865, but possibly not ended, was the materialized 
divergent sentiments of those two aged citizens. Each 
of them to the manor born in their I'cspective States, 
both were imbued with the sentiment that duty and 
patriotism pointed each to his own camp, to defend 
his fireside, family and State. Father had served with 
Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812, and his father 
had served under Washington in the War of 1776. 
Both were life- long democrats and admirers of Jack- 
son, even the latter's memorable utterance against 
Calhoun's nullification theor^^, that '• the Union must 
and shall be maintained." But Calhoun was dead, and 
the alleged causes for nullification had ceaseil to irri- 
tate, but were by no means dead. Jacksoti, too, had 
been gathered to his rest, and while not a secessionist, 
yet my father conceived the duty of the hour was to 
defend the ordinance when proclaimed by the large ma- 
jority of the populace interested. The father-in-law, 
native of Pennsylvania, of federal lineage, an old line 
whig, as sincerel}' believed that a national (not fed- 
eral) authority and power should prevail. And, as 
stated, these two old men respectively typified the 



330 IlEMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

INorthern and the Southern people even in their hours 
of fiercest conflict. I have said sufficient in preceding' 
pages and speeches, to show how unable I was to 
heartily endorse the aims and methods of either fac- 
tion, and the determination to stand in statu quo, a 
looker-on while fulfilling the obligation I had assumed 
under my oath talcen at West Point, June. 1842, with 
scrupulous fidelity. 

But I must return to m.y narrative. 

I reported to General John C. Fremont, in New 
York City, as ordered, and it happened to be the even- 
ing of the day the first battle of Bull's Run occurred. 
Fremont had but lately been appointed major-general 
in the regular army, as from South Carolina, but this 
was wrong, as he was from California. Fremont's and 
McOlellan's commissions were of the same date (14th 
May, 1861). Ilalleck, also from California, was 
appointed August 19, 1861. McClelhin was given 
precedence over Fremont, and the four major-generals 
then stood : Scott, McClellan, Fremont and Ilalleck ; 
and the seven brigadier-generals stood : Wool, Harney, 
Sumner, Mansfield, McDowell, Anderson and Rose- 
crans; the last five dating in 1861 and AVool dating 
June, 1841, and Harney in 1858. 

Returning to Fremont in New York City, as stated, 
I I'eported to him the evening of the first battle of 
Bull's Run. Fremont was located at the old Astor 
House on Broadwa^^ I had never met him before, 
thoucrh he was in the U. S. armv from 1838 to March, 
1848, when he was permitted to resign i-alher than be 
dismissed for insubordination or mutiny under General 
Stephen W. Kearny, in that part of the Mexican War 
which took place on the Pacific coast. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 331 

Fremont had several rooms at the Astor House with 
two or three attaches from California, and his spacious 
parlor served to entertain the many people in that city 
who called to see him and congratulate him on his new 
official position, as well as to take a look at the late 
candidate for president (with Dayton as his lieutenant). 
One who accompanied me when I went to report was 
Horace Greeley, whom I had entertained at my iiumble 
'' adobe hutr in Camp Floyd, Utah, on his overland trip 
in 1860. Greeley was boiling over with surprise and 
indignation at the Bull's Run battle, and, like many 
others, was nervous to see ever3'bodv rushing to the 
front to retrieve the disaster. Greeley as an editor 
was one of the most active of the fomenters of the 
war, and felt quite competent to advise and direct 
militarv operations, as well as political, at that time. 

When Greeley and Fremont had finished their con- 
fab, I slej)])ed forward and handetl the latter a copy of 
ni}' order to report to him in New York, for duty with 
him in the West, and Fremont was then preparing to 
leave soon for St. Louis to establish his headquarters. He 
was standing near a window in his large parlor (which 
cost the Government, no doubt, ten dollars per day), and 
received me with superb, but reserved dignity. 1 was 
only a captain in the staff of the regular army (of nine- 
teen years service, nearly all of which had been under 
canvass) with no political influence, and more than all, 
in Fremont's estimate of men, I was a oraduate of a 
military academy and, therefore, not in favorable stand- 
ing with political generals; whereas, Fremont was a 
politician and a turned down memher of ten years' serv- 
ice in the army, but now a major-general, with all the 
possibilities it held out in the future, supplemented 



832 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

with the prestige of having run well a few years before 
as candidate for President. Whatever else Fremont 
lacked (among which I will say at the start was com- 
mon, hard American sense in nearly every prac- 
tical duty), he yet possessed to the full measure, 
self-love and vanity, self-conceit and unapproachable 
ditjnitv and austerity of manner toward inferior offi- 
cers, soldiers and attaches I His attaches he was 
inclined to select from the adventurous spawn of 
Europe, most of whom had left their native coun- 
tries because of their patriotic activity in rebellion 
against their o-overnments. These self-exiled rebels 
from European nations were received as worthy patri- 
ots in this country by the Fremont class of royalty- 
aping flunkies, and were considered just the material 
to hire to thrash rebels in our own country who dared 
to rebel asainst what thev conceived to be wrongs on 
the part of the Northern States, which had passed their 
word to protect European rebels seeking asylum under 
our flag: I Those attaches and retainers were not 
American citizens nor did they care to be; they were 
adventurers for revenue and good offices, and would 
shoot for the party who would furnish the ammunition 
and pay them the best prices. The numerous tribe of 
"Zaganyis," "' Kalopzyis '' and " Ashboths " whose 
Hungarian or Italian blood and civilization fitted them 
admirably for such work. These retainers were docile 
and obedient to Fremont to the extreme of obsequious- 
ness 

This flattered " Tin- GenernV greatly, and inflated 
his vanity and self-conceit, till, inwardly, the " Path- 
finder " felt no doubt but he would crush and squelch 
the rebels out west in short order. During the next 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 333 

day at that hotel parlor Greeley was in and out fre- 
quently, and I thought I discovered in his b'lix old head 
(full of brain) a misgiving as to the capacity and suc- 
cess of a general who was thus surrounded. The sec- 
ond dav Greeley actually looked tired of the tomfool- 
ery and wished it ended by an early departure of 
Fremont for the seat of Avar; so was I anxious to 
leave, and therefore ventured in subdued tone and 
manner to intimate my desire to the "General," who 
raised his eye to the ceiling as if revolving a momen- 
tous question, or tr3'ing to imagine that he was reallv 
thinking, finally replied, " Yes, Captain, you can pro- 
ceed to St. Louis and there await my arrival, and when 
you have learned that I am in that city, whicli you 
will by the daily papers, you will report in person to 
my chief staff officer. But, Captain, I wish you, before 
you leave, to go out in this city and purchase 400 mess 
pans, 200 camp kettles, and also ascertain if you can 
puj'chase 500 sets of horse equipments, and report to 
me to-morrow the result." I very soon performed this 
idiotic mission, ordering the mess pans and camp ket- 
tles to be packed and shipped to St. Louis, and hills 
made to General John C. Fremont, U. S. A., and 
mailed to St. Louis. I then returned to the Astor 
House and reported my action ; also at a house on 
Broadway, to which Mr, Greeley piloted me, the horse 
equipments could be obtained, and the price of the 
same. Fremont told me to go and order them also, to 
be shipped at once to him at St, Louis, which \ did. 
This was Fremont's first action in the service, and was 
directly in contravention of orders and reijulations in 
procuring supplies. There was a chief purchasinji- 
quartermaster then on dutv in New York Citv, with 



334 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

an office near the Battery, and a corps of clerks, whose 
regular business was to have purchased, if necessary, 
these identical articles. I told Fremont this, and sug- 
gested to him that very likely that quartermaster 
might have on liand the mess pans and kettles, and 
the procuring of horse equipments belonged to the 
Ordnance Department ; but Fremont replied that he 
would rather not wait the routine necessary to go 
tJirough, and preferred to order purchased at once 
what he required, and as to Ordnance Department 
procuring equipments, it made no difference, as Ms 
order would be all sufficient. I knew in the end there 
would be trouble and music for the " General," unless 
he gathered his head sufficient to permit the proper 
branches of the War Department to attend to its own 
affairs; but discretion required me to mind my own 
business also, and obey orders, unless plainly illegal. 
Such turned out to be the case in a few weeks, as the 
sequel will show. 

I was now ready to leave for the West, but I 
remarked to Fremont that nn^ family resided in Chicago, 
and as I had been pretty much separated from them 
the greater part of three years, I would prefer to go to 
Chicago, and there await his arrival in St. Louis. To 
this he readily assented and I lost no time in boarding 
a train for Chicago. Tliis was July 23, 1861, and the 
newsboys were crying on the streets the disastrous bat- 
tle of Bull Run, and the greatest excitement prevailed 
all over the city. Meantime I learned that Burnside 
(who in March " thought he would go South *') had 
o-one to Washington in May, and was at that time 
in Rhode Island, from which State he re-entered the 
United States service. This was a wise choice (as be- 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 335 

tween Federal and Confederate), it also showed that 
Burnside was not so uncertain when I saw him in 
March or else he had rapidly changed his mind. He 
was in March about as strongly in favor of the South 
in its contention as Albert Sidney Johnston was in 
April, 1860 in favor of sticking to the United States 
Government. Both ch.mged their minds when the tug 
of war came ; and I may say, both were about as near 
failures, as great generals, as that war brought into 
view. 

I left that night by way of Harrisburg, where I was 
delayed for a train caused by a blockade of cars bring- 
ing troops from the West. The streets were lined 
with excited people and raw volunteers. Capt. T. W. 
Sherman, Fifth Artiller}', U. S. A., with his com|)any 
had just arrivjd from some post in the Northwest. 
With him were a couple of lieutenants from Southern 
States desirous of getting leaves of absence to visit 
their homes and families, evidently to consult as to 
their future course. After paying my respects to 
Governor Curtin I boarded a train for Chicago where 
I arrived and stopped with my wife and two children 
till August 2d, when I received orders from Fremont 
dated St. Louis, to proceed there and report to Major 
Justice McKinstry, TJ. S. Army, then the chief quarter- 
master on duty ai St. Louis. The weather was in- 
tensely warm in St. Louis, the city full of excited peo- 
ple, McKinstry and three clerks aP in shirt sleeves, in 
one large office room. 25x30 feet, hard at work, with 
papers and requisitions, issuing necessaiy supplies to 
the constantly arriving volunteer troops. All were 
sweltering with heat and perspiration. 

McKinstry said but little when I reported, but told 



336 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

me to call at his quarters that night on Myrtle street. 
I left his office and sauntered about till tired and went 
to the Planters House to my room. That evening I 
went to his quarteis as agreed, but failed to find him in, 
nor could I trace him up. The next day I learned he 
was out that night with Fremont and a few others 
" seeing the sights." He made a second appointment for 
me to call at his quarters the following night, which I 
did, but still failed to find him. Several days passed, and 
finally I told him I was waiting to be assigned to duty. 
He relpied that he was " overrun with work, and for 
me to get an office room and go to work at whatever 
was necessarv. I was an experienced quartermaster 
and needed no instructions from him." The few days' 
observation about McKinstry's office showed clearly 
his perplexity and great labor, and also disclosed to me 
the utter want of system and method in his entire 
management. Fremont was constantly giving orders 
(often verbally, or by n^.essengers carrying a mere pen- 
cil slip), and McKinstry was purchasing and receiving 
horses and mules for the service; was manufacturing- 
clothing by employing several score of sewing women 
with their machines, under irresponsible and incompe- 
tent superintendents; he was trying to carry on trans- 
portation by land and v/ater, using railways and mule 
teams for land, and half a dozen river steamers bv 
water, and with incompetent assistants he was purchas- 
ing in the city of St. Louis from mercantile houses the 
required camp utensils and many other supplies called 
for, in open market, instead of by contract, which 
speedily created unfriendly feelings among dealers, and 
was greatly aggravated by the then increasing spirit of 
the loyal to ignore the disloyal merchants! All these 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 337 

and man}^ other disheartening features of that field of 
labor about St. Louis made me wish I had never been as- 
signed to duty there. I finally obtained a quiet evening 
interview with McKinstry, and 1 frankly told him my 
views, suggested many changes in methods and the 
want of more system. He was then assured of the 
appointment of brigadier-general of volunteers, and 
told me he was onl}^ cleaning up his work, and would 
soon take tlie field under Fremont, and that it was for 
me to assume all duties at that depot, and inaugurate 
such systems and methods as I deemed best; as for 
himself, he should do nothing in that line, but close up 
as speedily as possible, and leave with the troops for 
field service. This verbal deliverance, therefore, seemed 
to be the finale of my reporting to him for duty. It 
was quite in line with Fremont's mode of procedure, 
so much so that I suggested I should have at least a 
line or two in writing. McKinstry's long service in 
the regular army convinced him of the propriety of 
this and he handed me that day in his office the fol- 
lowing: 

Chief Quartermaster's Office, St. Louis, Mo., ) 

August 6th, 1861. I 

Captain P. T. Turnley, 

Ass't. Quartermaster, U. S. A. 
Captain: I am now about to take the field for 
military service wnth General Fremont, and you having 
reported to me for duty, it is proper for me to 
say that for the present you are the chief quarter- 
master in St. Louis, and you will assume all the duties 
as such until otherwise ordered. EespectfuUv, 

J. McKinstry, Major- QuavtermaHter. 

22 



3;{S KEMINISCENCES FROi\[ DIARY. 

Having this authority I at once went to work. The 
rush and excitement of troops being raised for active 
service, the constant requisitions coming in for every 
thing necessary to tit them for the field, and the supply- 
ing of troops '.vith General Lyon and Sturgis in Mis- 
souri, created the greatest confusion. Carpenters were 
put to work erecting quarters and storehouses in the 
outskirts of the city ( afterward called Camp Benton, 
in honor of "Jessie's" father); new arni}^ wagons 
were arriving by scores daily to be put together and 
run out in park for service. Mules and horses were 
being delivered bv hundreds, on the mere order of 
Fremont ! till confusion worse confounded pervaded the 
quartermaster's department, and it was difficult to 
decide where I should begin to bring order out of 
chaos. To mal\£ things still worse for me, as it had 
already involved McKinstry in a labyrinth of irreg- 
ularities, which ultimately brought him before a 
court-martial and dismissed him, Fremont did nothing 
according to law or army regulations. Kinglike, as 
he felt himself to be, he looked upon officers under 
him as serfs or menials, and that the king's verbal 
order, even the wave of his hand, was sufficient for the 
subaltern to jump and obey I While on my bed in the 
Planters' House that night I revolved in my mind the 
prospect, and heartily wished I \Tas out of it. The 
next morning I telegraphed the quartermaster-general 
to send me three or four assistant quartermasters. He 
replied that three would report to me in a few days, 
and a fourth within ten days. This was comforting to 
me, and I began to lay out their work and prepare 
office room, storehouses and corrals for animals. I had 
the art sfallerv of the old Oak Hall clothing building 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 339 

cleared of its statuary, had a raised floor iive feet wide 
and a foot high laid entirely around the walls, and 
ten small desks or tables placed on the raised floor, 
employed a competent man from Vermont (Mr. Coburn) 
as storekeeper, W, G. Chambers and Isaac Jerome 
(of New York) as head men in charge of horses, mules 
and corrals ; employed Captain Barton Able as chief 
manager of all river and steamboat transportation. 

In three days two assistant quartermasters reported 
to me for duty, Captain James Bradshaw, of Indiana, 
and Captain Joseph L. Dodds, from Ohio. One I 
assigned to the Benton barrack work, the other to land 
transportation and clothing. These officers were green 
volunteers, but were business men, and under my teach- 
ing rapidly got into harness and a systematic order of 
work. Of course I had a general supervision over 
both, made all purchases and payments, regulated the 
railway and river transportation, inspected and 
received all horses and mules, and gave vouchers or 
paid cash ; also the hundreds of wagons arriving by 
rail from Indiana and Illinois wagon factories. I had 
among my office employes two sons of Rt. Rev. Bishop 
Whitehouse, of Chicago, Mr. Ed. E. Whitehouseas one 
of ray cashiers or paying tellers (in bank parlance), 
and Charles L. Rutter, of Chicago, the other ; and Mr. 
Henry Whitehouse as special secretary, to assist me in 
my official correspondence, v^hich at that time had 
grown to the answering of several score of letters daily. 
The cashier's department had also grown to large pro- 
portions. General Lyon and his command in Missouri 
had no disbursmg officer or funds with them, and con- 
sequently purchased on credit or " took " on necessity, 
forage, fuel, wagons and teams of the farmers and 



340 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

people througli the country, and gave eertijicntes for 
the same, called vouchers, to be paid in St. Louis (or 
elsewhere) by some regular disbursing quartermaster. 
The crude and irregular character of ihose certificates 
or vouchers was such that their jiaynient made the 
paving officer liable, in many cases, for ultimate stop- 
pages and disallowances on their examination at quarter- 
master-generars ofiice and the Treasury Department at 
"Washington. I worked. over those scores and hundreds 
of vouchers for some days, and became convinced that 
their proper examination required more time than I 
could give it without abandoning all other work. I there- 
fore wrote the quartermaster-general the situation, and 
advised the detail of two assistant quartermasters from 
elsewhere to take an office in St. Louis and take up all 
such irregular evidences of claims or debt. This was 
promptlv acquiesced in, and three additional quarter- 
masters were sent to report to me, Capt. Charles LL 
Ho3^t, of Connecticut, Louis B. Parsons, of New Yoik, 
and Lieutenant Phil Sheridan, late of the Fourth U. S. 
Infantrv, who had just been assigned to duty as assist- 
ant quartermaster with rank oi captain. I at once 
organized a board of examiners, composetl of Hoyt, 
Parsons and Sheridan, to do tliis work, of cori'ecting 
defective and informal vouchers, to indorse the amounts 
they recommended to be paid on each vouelier. supply- 
ing defects as far as they could as to dates, quantities, 
prices and how the property had been used. Vouchers 
thus perfected were ready to be paid at my office, and 
the work ran more smoothly and decidedly on safer 
lines for mv personal responsibility. 

Just here, however, it is necessary for me to return 
to that unique and exceptional character, John C. Fre- 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 341 

mont. Fremont had located his headquarters on 
Chouteau Avenue, St. Louis (about a mile from m\' 
office), in the large and elegant residence of an uncle of 
Mrs. Fremont (Captiiin Brent). As previously stated, 
Fremont had divers retainers about him. I have for- 
gotten many of their names, and my papers and records 
were burnt in Chicago, October, 1871, tho'efore I can- 
not name all of them. A few, however, I can recall — 
a Mr. I. C. Wood, who w^as a kind of confidential aid 
or secretary, and occupied an ofiice-room just under 
Fremont's elegant parlor; also a little wiry, weazen- 
faced, but wicked-looking, Hungarian, called Captain 
Zagontjl, who was getting up a body-guard for "//«? 
Oerwral f' and a tall, venerable and very military- 
looking man (Hungarian also) named Asboth. Fremont 
had so far superseded the President and Congress as to 
appoint Asboth a brigadier- general, and Zagonyi a 
captain, and Mr. I. E. Wood a major in the United 
States army ! Two or three others were in his military 
household holding commissions from him, but I forget 
their names; others were not irnmedtately about his 
headquarters much, but on hand and in reach when any 
thing like revenue in contracts or supplies was to be 
purchased. One of these, a Mr. Hascall (I understood 
from California as well as Mr. I. C. Wood) held a small 
paper of a dozen lines from Fremont directing him to 
purchase and deliv^er to McKinstry (or to the depot 
quartermaster in St. Louis) one tJio>i.'<t<md imdrit ! A 
Mr. Salova was another walking and waiting ornament, 
who spent his time loafing around generally, and gather- 
ing pointers as to the wants of the service, to supply 
which he was on hantl at a large profit ; he also came 
from California, as I was told. I was very soon in full 



342 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

and entire cliarge of that immense depot of military 
supplies, as McKinstry had closed up and left. 

One day a man calling himself Major White, another 
appointment of Fremont, on diit\' in or about Fremont's 
headquarters, came to me with a verbal m€f<snge from 
Fremont to let him (White) have a saddle horse and a 
complete set of equipments, — all verbal, not the sci'ape 
of a pen, or requisition of any kind! I heard liim 
through and told him I could not issue public property 
on a mere verbal request; besides, Army Regulaiions 
only authorized an officer in the field on frontiers, 
when lie cohJiI not otherwise provide himself witli hoi'ses, 
to receive a public horse at cost price in money, and 
told him to get a written order from Fiemont for me 
to let him have a horse and equipments, as specified in 
paragraph 1030 of the Regulations, and I would gladly 
do so. With this advice he left me. Two days after 
he returned and lianded me a slip of paper in Fremont's 
handwriting, with his initials, as follows: 

To CaPT. TuRNLEY, (^UAinKKMASTKK : 

Major White of my staff will hand you this, and I 
desii'e you will, without delay. sujij)ly him with a horse 
and equipments. 

J. C. F., 

Grii. CoiiKhj. 

Xot even a (l<i1<' on it I 

I asked Major AVhite to step across the room to 
one of the clerks, and the papers would be made out in 
a few minutes. These "papers"' consisted of four 
])apers, of half a dozen lines each, called invoices (in 
duplicate) and recei})ts (in duplicate). The invoices I, 
as the issuing officer, signed, and also added my receipt 
from Major White for cost price in money of the pro- 



REMINISCENCES FROM UIAKV. 343 

perty, which in this case was one horse, $125 : one set 
equipments, $2 1.50; total, $146.50. Theother papers were 
receipts,//Y>/// White to me, stating- he had received the 
projx'i'tij, and had paid me the mone\\ In ten minutes 
the papers were all read}' and brought to m}' desk by 
the clerk. I signed the invoices, and asked ]\Iajor 
White to step over to the cashier, pay the money, and 
sign the receipts for the propertv. He was surprised 
at tills, said he had no money, and expected to get the 
property merely on the General's order I "Well,'' 
said J, " Major, take these papers with you (I will 
erase my name only, leaving the paper clearly to be 
understood) and go to General Fremont and point out 
to him paragraj)!! 1030 Ann;/ Rcgulafioit.'^, and say 
that as a disbursing officer I am pecuniarily responsible 
for the property, and if I turn over to you I must have 
such authority first ; secondly, I must have such a re- 
ceipt from you personally as will pass muster at the 
Treasury Department in settlement of my accounts." 
Off he went, and I heard no more of him for three 
days, when he returned with the following: 

" Hkadquarteks, St. Louis, September, 1S61. 
Captain P. T. Turnley, Quartermaster. 

Cdptain: The General directs that you supj)ly 
Major White with horse and equipments. 

I. C. Wood, 
A. D. C." 

I then had simple receipts made for "Major" 
White to sign for the property (no money in the case) 
and I signed an invoice of it for him to keep; but he 
refused even to sign a receipt for the property I I was 
amazed at this, and told him so; he replied that he 
wanted a horse and equipments and would not sign 



344 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

any paper or anything else ; that it was public prop- 
erty, and he had as much right to it as I had I Igno- 
rance hardly met his case, only a dense idiot or a bold 
knave could apply to him. I told him he could not 
have public property from me without a written 
receipt, in duplicate, to tile with my public accounts. 
With this he left. The next day I received a message 
from Fremont to report myself in person to him imme- 
diately. I jumped into my buggy and went to Ciiou- 
teau avenue without delay; walked up the steps to 
Fremont's hirge parlor office, sumptuoush' furnished, 
including a large tine piano, the best of that date. I 
doffed my hat and walked up to within proper distance 
of where he stood, and saluted. I shall never forget 
the calm, cold, royal look of supreme self-assurance he 
put on as he faced me and leaned his left arm on the 
piano. I broke silence by saying: "I received your 
message. General, and report accordingly^." I will 
give our dialogue which followed : 

Fremont: *' Captain Turnley, I sent for you to ascer- 
tain whether or not you are going to obey my 
orders." 

Turnley : '* Yes, sir, that is my duty, my ]->leasure, 
and has been my effort." 

Fremont: "No. you have not obeyed my orders- 
half a dozen cases lately in which you have not done 
what I directed." 

Turnley : "Please name one. General." 

JVemont : "■ Only yesterday, for the third time, I 
sent Major White to you for a horse and equipments, 
and you have not let him have it. Last week I ordered 
the ordnance officer at Jefferson barracks to ilraw on 
von for eio-htv thousand dollars. He said he called on 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 345 

you for it and you declined or refused to let him have 
it. Last week also I gav^e Mr. Hascall a note to you 
to inspect and receive 500 mules he has had ready to 
deliver for two weeks. Tiiese thini^s I cannot put up 
with, and I have just made an order for a court-martial 
to try you for disobedience of my orders, or for neglect 
of duty. Here is the order (lying on the ])iano) not 
yet published, with a detail for the court; but before 
issuing it I thought I would send for you, and see what 
explanation you could give of your actions." 

Turnley : "I am greatly oblige*! to you, General, 
for vour moderation and forethought inthusfriving- me 
the opportunity to place myself correctly before you. 
1 am also glad, even at a late day, to be informed that 
I have offended against your orders, although I assure 
you that I am still ignorant of a single case wherein I 
have failed to carry out your orders." 

Fremont: "Why, Captain, I have just mentioned 
three cases to you — Major White to get a horse; the 
ordnance officer to get that money, and Major Hascall 
to have his mules received and inspected. Surely you 
must be aware that you have not carried out my orders 
in those cases." 

Turnlev : " Well, General, all these cases I can 
readily explain, and in not one case can it bediscovered 
that I have in the least neglected, much less disobeyed, 
your orders. There might be a question, general, as to 
what constitutes an order, and in this connection per- 
mit me to say that, not in the field, but at a post, a 
verbal message or a pencil note, with no date, and only 
initials of a name, are not orders which a honded dis 
hursing officer can accept or use in issuing propert}' or 
money ! I am a bonded officer and have been for many 



346 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

years. I have a large amount of money at times on hand ; 
also perhaps a quarter of a million dollars worth of pub- 
lic property, part of which is five or six hundred horses, 
and as many equipments, every item of which is entered 
on my property return, by clerks and bookkeepers paid 
for that work. It is a dehit and credit account by 
items (not values), between me personally and the 
United States Treasury Department. The regulations 
prescribe how this propei'ty and money shall pass from 
one officer to another — that receipts and invoices shall 
be exchanged, just the same for one dollar's worth 
as for thousands I just the same f(^r (>/// horse md equip- 
ment as for an entire regimental mount I and I most 
emphatically assert that I have never received from 
you any orders to issue property or money according 
to the Army Regulations but what I have ])romptly 
complied with. But, as the case and complaint seem 
to stand at present, I incline to think it will be best for 
all concerned and best for the interest of the Govern- 
ment that you go on with your court-martial, and that I 
be arraiii'ned on the chai'^es vou have iiulicated and 
that I stand a trial before a court-martial." 

Fremont : '• Well, if you prefer such course I will go 
on. At the same time I wish to be reasonable, and as you 
assert that the form and manner in which I sent my orders 
was not in order, this will have to be ascertained by the 
court, but I should prefer to come to a Clear understand- 
ing of our resi)ective views and manner of proceeding." 

Turnley : '"Well, General, for your better informa- 
tion as to my motives and rule of action, I will say 
that I requested Major White a few days since to call 
your attention to the paragraph in Regulations, 
specially prescribing how mounted officers can tlraw 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 34T 

horses from the quartermaster's department, and I 
suppose of course lie did so, and that you know what 
that is." 

Fremont: "No, sir. I have not heard a word from 
Major White as to this." 

Tnrnley : " Permit me then to point you to it, as 
I see a copy of the Army Regulations lying on your 
table." 

Fremont: Certainly, I would like to see it." 

Turnley (opening the book and handing it to 
Fremont, who read page 133, paragraph 1030, as fol- 
lows : " In the iield, or on the frontier, the command- 
ing officer may authoi'ize a mounted officer who can 
not otherwise provide himself, to take one or two 
horses from the Government at cost price,") : "Major 
White refused to do this. Then on his second 
visit with a line from Mr. I. C. Wood, I was will- 
mg to take my chances, and let him have the prop- 
erty Kimphj on hix receipt to file with my accounts, 
but even this he refused to sign ! Now, General, as to 
the eighty thousand dollars you sent the ordnance 
officer to get from me. This was a large amount of 
money to be transferred from the quartermaster's to 
the Ordnance Department. Now, here please read 
this paragraph." 

Fremont (reading): -'Public funds must not be 
transferred from one department to another, without 
specific authority from the War and Treasury depart, 
ments." 

Turnley : " That is why your verbal message to me 
was not heeded. Two days afterward you sent me 
the same order in writing, and 1 handed over the 
eiffhtv thousand dollars, but the officer gave me Ms 



348 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

duplicate receipts for the same (a thing Major White 
refused to do for a horse), one of which receipts and 
yonr orde)- I promptly mailed to tlie quarter-master- 
general for his information and instruction to me, and 
I have his reply to the effect that your order was not 
warranted by Regulations, and that the Ordnance 
Bureau at Washington had been directed by thti Secre- 
retary of War to refund the money ^ at ooice, to the quar- 
termaster's department. This, General, explains the 
eighty thousand dollar request. Now, as to the Has- 
call mules. Permit me to give my version on the mat- 
ter. I never saw nor heard of the man Hascall (or 
Ed. Hascall) until he came into the office and requested 
me to have 300 mules, that he had somewhere in the 
city, inspected and vouchers'given him for the same. I 
asked him to let me see a cop}' of his contract. He 
said he had no contract except an order from General 
Fremont " to purchase and deliver here one thou- 
sand mules for the Government." As I had no record 
of such, and nothing about it was of record in any 
thing my predecessor (McKinstry) turned over to me, I 
told Mr. Hascall I could not receive his mules and give 
vouchers for them on any such order and he left me. 
A few days after he came back with a ])encil line from 
I. C. Wood, 3'our aide-de-camp, saying: "General 
Fremont desires you will have some mules of Mr. Has- 
call inspected and received if proper.'' I then sent Mr. 
Isaac Jerome and Wm. G. Chambers, both in charge 
of horses and mules, to inspect and receive such as 
came up to the standard. They did so and reported to 
me, in writing, that they had inspected 280 mules for 
Mr. Hascall and found 30 in the lot fit for acceptance. 
These 30 they gave him a receipt for, and his vouchers 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 349 

are in the office ready for him. Jerome and Chambers 
further reported that the mules were generally a very 
sorry lot of young- animals, little switch tail things not 
Avorth harnessing, and, '' they understood," had been 
gathered up at various farms throughout Missouri, 
sometimes taken without compensation to owners. 
This, General, explains the mule case. Now, General, 
your orders to rae, in writing, duly issued, have been 
and will be obeyed, but not verbal messages, nor pencil 
notes with no date or signature. With these explana- 
tions. General, I leave the matter with you." 

Our interview closed, and I returned to my office. 
I never heard any more of the proposed court-martial. 

Before this occurrence, I had presented to Fremont 
a very fine saddle horse for his use in the field. I 
purchased the horse in May, 1861, at Annapolis, Mary- 
land, from Lieutenant-Colonel Smith of the Thirteenth 
New York, as he did not like it. It was a coal black 
with magnificent mane and tail, held a high head and 
had a fine step. I designed the horse for my wife, 
but she did not care for riding and was in Chicago 
permanently, hence I had the horse shipped to St. Louis 
and taken from the cars to Fremont's house. He 
received it as a present from me, standing on his front 
steps, from the man I sent with it. The horse cost me 
$250.00 (the same that Smith had paid for it) and I 
never saw a finer parade horse, though his gait was 
not so easy in the saddle as some might want. Fre- 
mont never even sent me a pencil note of thanks, 
although I sent a line by the hostler with my compli- 
ments making him a present of the horse. I cared 
nothing about the matter so far as the value of the 
horse was concerned, but the want of breeding and 



350 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

decent instinct in Fremont, in failing to respond, was 
disgusting to a gentleman. However, it was not so 
strange when one comes to realize what a cold egotist 
and brainless fraud General Fremont really was. He 
did not view me in any other light than one of his 
Hungarian underlings, whose chief delight and full 
reward should be in '• serving the general". My great- 
est regret was that I was so much of an ass myself as 
not to have sooner discovered what an idiotic ingrate 
my " general '' was! However, Fremont soon took 
the field, and formed a camp somewhere near Sedalia, 
Missouri, there to await events, but especially to col- 
lect (a la McClellan) a big army. 

Meantime I was plodding awa}^ at the St. Louis 
depot, receiving and forwarding every kind of supplies 
called for, both by river and b}' rail, September had 
come and half gone; nights began to get cooler, and 
Fremont directed McKinstiy to write me to send up all 
the overcoats I had, to which I replied I had none on 
hand, but expected some from tiie Philadelphia cloth- 
ing department. Two days after, I got a telegram 
from Fi'emont, saying '' he understood a large lot of 
army overcoats had arrived in St. Louis from Boston, 
and for me to purchase and forward them. " While 
I was reading the telegram on my table, I looked up 
and discovered the man Salova looking over the same 
paper 1 was reading! 

I did not let on that I saw him rei'ding m\' tele- 
gram over m}' shoulder, but merely asked him what 1 
could do for him. He replied that he had some over- 
coats that he wished to sell to the Government, and he 
understood I wanted some for General Fremont's 
army ; if so, he desired to sell rive thousand. "What 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 351 

is the price? " I asked. He said, '■'•Eln^i'i, doJIars nn-hy 
" Wiiere are they," I asked. " At the express office," 
he replied. " Well," said I, " it is not convenient just 
at this hour for me to act in the matter, but I will see 
vou here at nine o'clock to-morrow morninir, and we 
will see what we can agree on about it." " Very 
Avell," said he, and he left the office. 1 called my 
store-keeper, Mr. Coburn, an excellent and reliable 
man of fifty years of age; a Vcvinonter, whom I had 
employed especially for his trustworthiness, and told 
him to go to the express office and ascertain if there 
were any overcoats there ; if so, how many, where 
they came from, and who had them. Mr. Coburn was 
gone about an hour when he returned to me with the 
report that the small man who accompanied him to me 
was sx(per-ear<i(> of the lot of five thousand armv over- 
coats, made in Boston and sent to St. Louis for sale, to 
whomsoever wanted them ; the price was eight dollars 
each. " Well," said I, " have you sold them ? " " No, 
sir, I have not, but I have partly promised a man that 
he can have them, provided he can satisfy me as to 
paying for them." I asked him who that man was. 
He said : '• He is a man by the name of Salova, but 
as I have not made any binding contract with him, I 
am still free to sell to you if you so desire." " AVoll," 
said I, "we will inspect them and ascertain the quality, 
make, etc., and if they will answer the purpose I will 
purchase them for the Government, and pay you ten 
thousand dollars in cash and the balance in U. S. 
Quartermaster's vouchers, to be paid as soon as funds 
are received for the purpose." "That will do," said he. 
I sent Mr. Coburn to inspect the coats and bring me 
one as a sample. He soon brought me the coat, and I 



352 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

saw it was all right, of army pattern and material, and 
not waiting to count the coats then in the boxes, I 
told the super-cargo that I would keep and count half 
of them and ship the other half immediately, un- 
counted, to the proper officer in the field, at General 
Fremont's headquarters, and let him count them as they 
were issued, and I would pay him when I received that 
officer's receipts. This was agreeable to him, and in 
less than two hours two thousand of the coats were on 
the cars, en route to Fremont's camp. Next morning- 
Mr. Salova called, as agreed, to consider his offer of 
coats. I told him that $11 was too much, the Gov- 
ernment price was only $7.50, and I had bought for $8^ 
since I saw him, all that I wanted. He was surprised 
at this, and asked me who I bought of. I told him 
and he was shocked — for an instant almost speechless. 
"Why," he exclaimed, "you have bought my coats.'' 
He appeared utterly dumbfounded at the turn of 
affairs. I told him I was not aware that I purchased 
his coats, that I had bought them from a young man 
who said he was from Boston, and came as super-cargo, 
with the coats for sale. He turned and left the office, 
and I heaid no more abnut it, but the next day 1 re- 
ceived a telegram order from General Fremont to close 
my business in St. Louis and turn over the office to 
some other officer, and report to him for duty in the 
field. Query — how much interest had Fremont in 
S:ilova? Of course Salova had dispatched Fremont 
what haJ occurred, and Fremont was disappointed and 
vexed at the turn things had taken. His cMi'm had 
slipped up on a very nice speculation, say three dollars 
each on 5.000 overcoats. $15,o00 was a big thing to let 
go ail at once, 1 thought I saw through the mill-stone. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 353 



CHAPTER XV. 



The order to close up and leave the depot at onoe 
was short notice and not an easy matter. I had more 
than a dozen clerks busy making up my quarterly and 
monthly accounts for the Treasury Department, all of 
which I would have to examine myself and sign, duly 
make up and transmit with proper letters of advice. 
However, I cut out the work for the clerks, closed my 
money accounts and turned over the funds in my hands 
to Major Robert Allen, who had fortunately arrived 
about October 1st, and in fact superseded me as chief 
and would also supervise the final making up of my 
public accounts; so, in a few days, I left and went as 
far as Jefferson City, where I received information that 
the Secretary of War (Simeon Cameron) and Adjutant- 
General Thomas were on their wa}' to St. Louis, and 
their mission was for the express purpose of ascertaining 
what Fremont was doing, and what he proposed to do. 
So I concluded to tarry at Jefferson City till I could 
hear from the Secretary of War, which I did the next 
day by a telegram sent me to " wait where I was " till 
his arrival, which occurred the following da}'', and after 
inspecting the town, the Secretary told me to join him 
and the Adjutant-General, and we all proceeded by a 
car to Fremont's camp, some miles southwest of Jeffer- 
son City. Fremont had his troops paraded in ordei^ 
and gave the Secretary and Adjutant-General a review, 
after which a luncheon was served in camp, in the open 
air, and the Secretary was ready to return to St. Louis ; 
but, just before starting, the Secretary of War told 
Fremont that he"desired Captain Turnle}' to remain with 



23 



354 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

him," to which of course Fremont assented with bad 
grace, and evident rekictance and disappointment ! 
After we returned to St. Louis, the Seci-etary and 
Adjutant-General spent some days inquiring into the 
manner in which the public affairs had been carried on 
in St. Louis, and then issued an order that Captain Turn- 
ley remain on dut}' at St. Louis, a copy of which was 
sent to Fremont. Maj. Robert Allen was bighly 
pleased with this turn of affairs, for he began to realize 
that there was more to do at that depot than he felt 
disposed to load himself with. General Halleck had ar- 
rived in the meanwhile, and taken command of the en- 
tire department, and this made it vastly more agreeable 
for all of the general staff officers, as everything was 
then conducted on the well-known rules and regulations 
of the army. The inspection of General Fremont's camp 
and troops and his plans (whatever they were, if he had 
any) did not, it would seem, accord with the views of 
the Secretary of War and the Adjutant-General, for 
soon after their r-eturn to Washington Fremont was 
relieved from his command and returned to St. Louis, 
preparatory to reporting at Washington for service in 
some other part of the country. 

It was while thus in St. Louis that the poor unfor- 
tunate fiif t horse was returned and hitched to the curb- 
stone in front of my office ! I have always half sus- 
pected that Mrs. Fremont was the authoress of that 
ill-bred and spiteful act, though it was only a suspicion. 
Mrs. Fremont, properly known as Jessie Fremont or 
Jessie Benton, was a daughter of "old Tom Benton," 
as the late Senator Benton was known, and she had 
all the vanity, arrogance and self-conceit of her lather. 
■She never let a favorable chance slip to avenge herself 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 355 

for any supposed wrong done her or hers by any other 
person. "Why she should have thought for a moment 
that one so low in rank, and so utterly without polit- 
ical friends or influence as I was, could have been the 
means of inflicting any wrong or injury on her or her 
ambitious and much favored husband, was a m^^stery 
to me. But the grossness, not to say ineffable mean- 
ness, of returning a gift horse in the way it was done, 
left no doubt in my mind that I was thought to be in 
some way instrumental in causing Fremont's with- 
drawal from the command. 

•;f * * * * * * * * 

Previous to Fremont's leaving St. Louis for the field, 
a Mr. Edward M. Davis was appointed assistant quar- 
termaster, August 3, 1861 (but from what State did 
not appear on the army register). This man Davis 
was put on duty about Fremont's headquarters, on 
Chouteau avenue, St. Louis, along with the man I. C. 
Wood, who sported the title, M:ij. I. C. Wood, A. D. C. 
Davis, it appeared, by Fremont's order, purchased five 
thousand blankets for the soldiers, in Philadelphia, 
shipped them in bales to St. Louis. Fremont ordered 
a board of three officers (myself being chairman) to 
meet and examine the blankets, etc. We did so, found 
the blankets not of army pattern, but very tiiin and 
rather shoddy. The invoices with them giving prices 
ranging from $1.18 to $1.15 per blanket, which 
was less than half the price of our regular army blan- 
kets. The great need of blankets by soldiers then in 
the field led me, as a member of the board, to recom- 
mend that we accept the blankets, and issue two, in 
place of one, to each soldier. The other two members, 
CJaptains Haines and Hendershott, however, would not 



356 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

agree to receive them, so we rejected the lot, and the 
board adjourned. I noticed the blanlvets had been 
purchased from a Mr. C. H. Davii<, of Philadelphia, 
but I did not at the time think about any relationship 
between E. M. Davis and C. H. Davis, but it turned 
out that they were brothers, and they were displeased 
at having their blankets rejected, and appealed to Fre- 
mont. Fremont ordered the board to reconvene, which 
was done, but a like rejection of blankets resulted. 
Fremont disapproved of the rejection and approved of 
mv recommendation (which was to receive the blankets 
at the low prices of $1.18 for part, and $1.45 for the 
other part). This was done, and the E, M. Davis paid 
the C. H. Davis in Philadelphia, 31st of August, 1861^ 
about $12,500 for the blankets, but the bill had been 
changed from $1.18 and $1.45 per blanket to $3.60 
and $3.85 per hlanlcet, thus perpetrating a huge swin- 
dle against the Government! 

Of course, it was all cooked up at Fremont's head- 
quarters. This affair came out and was exposed be- 
fore the congressional committee in November, 1861. 
in their sittings in St. Louis. But whether Fremont 
was personally cognizant of the felony, was never 
knovvn. 

The whole truth requires a few words more con- 
cerning the condition of the horse. As I have stated, 
the saddle horse was above the average in shape, color 
and style of make up. When I delivered him at Fre- 
mont's residence he was in prime condition. A 
splendid curved neck with long, flowing mane, reaching 
far below the under side of the neck and very thick 
set ; while his tail was unusually large in volume and 
reached to his fetlocks. No |_horse ever had a finer 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 357 

mane or tail than this one. But when returned and 
tied to the hitching post in front of my office, he was 
indeed a sorry sight. One of my stable men passing 
on the sidewalk first saw the horse, and knowing him 
better than I did, recognized him, came up to my 
office and told me the horse had been returned sur- 
reptitiousl}'^ and tied where he was sure to be seen by 
me or my employes. I at once descended the steps 
to the street and saw the horse ! I would never 
have recognized the animal as being the same horse I 
had presented to Fremont. As stated, Fremont had 
not taken the horse with him to the field, but left him 
with his wife and famil}', to use in the city. The 
horse was so thin that we might call him poor in flesh ; 
his mane tvas cut off to only a fev^ inches long, and his 
fine tail was literally chewed and hacked off in terraces 
as if the calves had dined off it for a week. Of course 
it had been done out of pure cussedness and malignant 
revenge, but by whom I was left to conjecture. I 
never believed that Fremont had the spirit or courage 
to take the trouble to do such an act himself, per- 
sonally — but old Tom Benton's children were of a 
different breed, and were capable of anything in their 
power. They even defied and neglected each otlier in 
matters purely benevolent and sympathetic m which 
the average person of culture and civilization would 
be moved by the pulse of humanity. Not so >vith the 
Benton female. A savage, demoniac spirit was readily 
at hand when any of the family were crossed or 
thwarted in their designs or ambitious efforts. Hence, 
the question, wJio m utllated the poor horse ? 

Personally, while I don't know, yet I firmly believe 
that ''Jessie" could have readily answered the ques- 
tion if so disposed. 



358 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

If my efforts to curb Fremont in his wild, unsys- 
tematic (in fact unlawful) way of extravagance, caused 
his removal then he had only himself to blame. I was 
a bonded disbursing officer of tw^enty years' experi- 
ence, had great responsibilities, had qualified myself 
for such duties by a thorough knowledge of the laws- 
and regulations governing the service; and while he 
was a major-general, not under any pecuniary bonds, 
but by reason of his rank had great power, yet he 
was just as much a servant of the laws and regulations- 
as I was, however little he seemed to take this view 
of his duties and power. No doubt, my reports to the 
War Department, accompanying his orders, enormous- 
contracts and estimates, had something to do with di- 
recting attention to his methods of command in St. 
Louis. I worked faithfully day and night, and with 
the greatest harmon}^ under Major Allen, than whom 
there never held a commission in the arm}- a better 
man, nor more incorruptable, sagacious and useful, or 
one more patient, vigilant, courageous and inflexible. 
Such were his salient traits of character. Allen was 
physically lazy — but mentally industrious — and I felt 
that I was his chosen worker to execute his designs. 
I continued at that depot work in St. Louis till near 
the beginning of February, 1862, when Allen told me 
that General Halleck desired me to go to Cairo and 
take charge of the quartermaster's work at that place. 
I hastily arranged ray current public duties and by 
direction of Allen called at Hal leek's office to receive 
any special instructions he might have. Brigadier- 
General, U. S. Grant, in command of volunteers, was 
in command of the southwestern district of Missouri^ 
headquarters at Girardeau, but southern Illinois had 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 359 

been added to his district and about the first of Sep- 
tember he moved his headquarters to Cairo. lie had 
been there in command nearly five months when Hal- 
leck began to think it was time for him (Grant) to be 
on the move. When I called on Halleck, it so hap- 
pened, he was reading a report from Grant, on the 
condition of his command and the afl'airs at the Cairo 
depot generaWy. Halleck had not been pleased with 
the state of affairs at Cairo for some weeks, and had 
fully made up his mind to make a change. I told him 
I was ready to take the cars for Cairo that night, and 
had called to get any special instructions he desired to 
give me. He readily answered that he had no special 
instructions further than to proceed to Cairo and •' re- 
port to General Grant that you have been sent to that 
place to establish and take charge of a depot, and that 
I desire General Grant to be ready to take the field, 
with his command just as soon as it is possible to do 
so; and you are directed to supply General Grant with 
all needful transportation." Halleck then stated that 
he had reports from Grant that one or two assistant 
quartermasters, who had been placed on duty at 
Cairo, Grant had found it necessary to relieve from 
duty and place under arrest, and also his commissary 
was in arrest. Captain Reuben B. Hatch, of the volun- 
teers, who was the first assistant quartermaster sent 
to duty at Cairo, was the first to be placed under 
arrest, and Grant, with his depot, was in a bad way 
for want of duty officers. The causes for these arrests 
may have been good, but Halleck had not received 
any charges against these officers, 'and was out of 
patience with the delay and inefficiency of the service 
at Cairo generally, as well ^in the commander as it 



360 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

appeared in the officers of lower rank. He desired me 
to make this known to Grant so soon as I arrived at 
Cairo. 

Before closing my St. Louis experiences there is 
one incident which requires a place in my reminis- 
cences, as illustrative of the adage, the unexpected hap- 
pens and the improbable may often be expected! This 
remark may savor of an Irish bull, which is all the 
more appropriate because an Irishman is the subject 
of the short narrative I will give. 

While Phil. Sheridan was on a board examining 
accounts in St. Louis, as I have already narrated, good 
old General Samuel R. Curtis (who had been left in 
the city in command when Fremont left) had later 
been ordered to take th'e field and establish headquar- 
ters at or near Springfield, Missouri, Curtis was a 
graduate of 1831, but left the army for civil pursuits a 
year after. He promptly offered his services in the 
Mexican war and again in the war between the States, 
though he was old for the service. 

Before leaving St. Louis for the field he came to 
my office and asked me if it was possible for him to 
get a (jraduate for his chief quartermaster. I told him 
"Yes, very easily. Captain Phil. Sheridan is now on 
duty in this city examining quartermaster's accounts 
as a captain assistant quartermaster and he can be 
detailed to go with your command as your chief 
quartermaster." Curtis was delighted with this, and 
so was Sheridan. All went well, until in camp at 
Springfield some weeks thereafter. I had issued and 
sent to Curtis all'the horses I had on hand, but he still 
had one company of cavalry without horses. So he 
concluded to send out throush the neio-hborino- coun- 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 361 

ties around Springfield and impress some horses from 
the farmers and others. He therefore sent his chief 
quartermaster, Sheridan, an order in writing to take, 
or send out, a party to impi^ess horses to mount that 
company. Instead of obeying J-he order Sheridan 
actually had the impudence (no doubt alcoholic) to 
write a note to General Curtis, that he would not obey 
the order, because he had " not been assigned to duty 
with that command to steal horses! " Of course, Curtis 
put Sheridan in arrest at once, and telegraphed me to 
send him another quartermaster. I answered him that 
he had in his command a brigade-quartermaster (Cap- 
tain Ferd. S. Winslow, afterward a bani^er in Chicago) 
and he could be assigned to the duties vice Sheridan. 
This was done, and in a week I received a note from 
General Curtis explaining, and regretting, the circum- 
stance of having to arrest Sheridan, and intimating 
that Sheridan was drinking too much whisky to be use- 
ful, and he thought it was too big a load of the article 
that led Sheridan to disobey his orders! However, I 
heard nothing- more till Sheridan himself arrived in St. 
Louis, in arrest to be tried on the charges Curtis had 
formulated. UndoubtedhT^ a trial would have resulted 
in dismissal, or perhaps worse. I also regretted the 
turn of affairs as much as Curtis did, as well on Phil's 
account as for the credit of my department. Knowing 
Curtis' extreme gentleness and goodness of heart, I 
set about trying to prevail on him to withdraw his 
charges and let Phil. Sheridan have another chance. 
This Curtis finally assented to and he withdrew the 
charges, but did not want Sheridan back with his 
command, as he discovered Winslow was much the 
better man m the place. It was thus that I rescued 



363 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

Phil. Sheridan from an ugly scrape and sent him to 
Milwaukee to inspect horses then being delivered at 
that place for the army. He was not there long till 
the governor of Michigan telegraphed asking me '"if 
I knew of any officer of the regular army who would 
like to take command of a Michigan regiment of cav- 
alry T' I showed the dispatch to Major Allen, my 
chief, and he replied, " No, I don't know of any such 
officer," I answered that I believed it would just suit 
Phil. Sheridan. "All right," replied Allen; ''then 
telegraph Sheridan and get his answer. If he says 
'yes,' answer the governor and I have no doubt Gen- 
eral Ilalleck will authorize the transfer." This was 
done. I telegraphed Sheridan as follows: "Would 
you take the colonelcy of a Michigan regiment of 
cavalry ? " His answer was as follows : "Why do you 
ask me such a question ? Do you think I am demented ? 
Of course I will jump at the chance. Let me know all 
about it. P. H. Sheridan." 

Of course he was relieved from inspecting horses at 
once, and as soon as he could close up official quarter- 
master's work he set out to join his new regiment. I 
think, however, the regiment had moved to Kentucky 
before Sheridan reached it. That was the last I saw of 
Sheridan till after the close of the war, and that was the 
beginninoof Phil. Sheridan's career. He made a brilliant 
career, but in one instance, at least, not in fairness to a 
brother officer ! Sheridan and Grant together treated 
outrageously unjust General G. K. Warren. General 
Warren was a graduate of 1850, three years senior to 
Sheridan, was second in his class and was a line engi- 
neer. Sheridan was thirty-fourth in his class, and from 
some cause had a blind and unreasoning hatred of 



REMINISCEXCES FROM DIARY. 363 

Warren ! Sheridan had f!;ot whipped in the last days of 
Marci), 1865, near Dhuriddic eonrt-JiOu><e,Sin<\ it may be 
he (a hi John Pope against Fitz-John Porter) wanted to 
lay the responsibility of his defeat on some one else, no 
matter how innocent his victim might be. At any rate, a 
few days after that Sheridan called on Grant for the Si.iiJi 
ftifantrij Corpn (Warren's) to support him, but with 
vulgar discourtesy objected to General Warren com- 
manding it! Then it was that General Grant showed 
that lack of justice and fairness (sadly characteristic of 
Grant) by yielding to Sheridan to the extent of author- 
izing the inflated bull-frog to dismiss at pleasure General 
Warren. Palpable anil brazen favoritism could not go 
further, and General Gouverneur Warren was crushed 
to save from just censure his inferior in ever}^ element 
constituting the gentleman and office*' ! The one was a 
gentleman by instinct, education and inheritance, a 
scholar and a thorough officer. The other a sensualist a 
slugger in warfare and a dolt in good society, devoid of 
that chivalric regard for justice and fairness due to a 
brother officer. I am warranted in expressing, in strong 
ianguage,charactet'isticsIthorough]y understood in both. 
As a lieutenant of engineers Warren was with me on 
my Missouri river trip in 1855 and 1856, and I learned 
Avell his lovely character, Sheridan also I learned 
pretty well. The message Sheridan sent back to 
General Warren {lohcn Warren had really saved the 
day hj his quick and varied movements from onejiank 
to another^ all made necessary by Sheridan's ignorance 
and vxmt of military skill or practical knowledge) was 
most ungentlemanly, and profanely vulgar. The 
truth is, Sheridan's ignorance as to where Confederate 
General Pickett^s forces were intrenched caused all the 



364 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

confusion and delay and almost lost a victory ! Warren 
sent Sheridan word by his adjutant-general that he, 
Warren, in his multifarious flank movements (which in 
fact saved the day) found himself in the enemy's rear. 
Sheridan's return message by Warren's own adjutant- 
general is quite sufficient to show his character. Said 
Sheridan to Gsneral Warren's adjutant : " Go, tell 
General Warren that hy God he was not at the front! 
That's all my answer to General Warren's message." 
Sheridan relied upon General Grant to back him up 
in his cruel, disgraceful and untruthful charges and in- 
sinuations against General Warren! Gratitude or 
decent regard for truth was not a conspicuous element 
of Sheridan's character; in which, however, he was 
not very different from Ulysses S. Grant. Nor did 
Grant and Sheridtin differ verv much in relying mainly 
on the slugging process and indifferent to loss of the 
lives of their men, instead of using the strategic and 
tactical. Brute force characterized both officers' 
dominating propensitv throughout their military 
operations. Inexhaustible force of men and means 
was indispensable to their success ! ISTeither of them 
ever achieved a victory even handed with their antag- 
onist, but in every engagement they used double the 
force and material of their opponent ! 

But, to return to m v ])ersonal narrative. 

Leaving St. Louis on the night train, I arrived in 
Cairo the next morning before people were out of bed 
and got a cup of bad coffee at the little St. Charles 
Hotel, standing on the Front, and onJg .street in fact at 
Cairo at that time and very far to the southern part 
of the town. After getting coffee, I went in search of 
Grant's quarters, and found liim in bed in his room. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 365 

over a little bank or broker's office located on this same 
front and only street. I called him up and we had 
a chat as he dressed. I told him my business, to 
which he listened attentively, and replied " all right, 
I am glad you come here for dutj', I hope now" to 
get something done and get into the field, Halleck is 
no more anxious for that than I am, and all I want is 
transportation for 5,000 men up the rivers, and a depot 
officer here who knows something and will do it." 
"This," I replied "you can have at the earliest date 
possible." I had been directed by Major Allen to call 
on him at St. Louis for steamers, also on Colonel Swords 
at Louisville, Ky., and on Captain John H. Dickinson 
chief quartermaster at Cincinnati, for all needed steam- 
boats. I was thus enabled to supplv Grant with all 
the transpoitation he required in a very few days, and 
so he w^as soon off with the first portion of his com- 
mand, up the Ohio, the Tennessee and Cumberland 
rivers. I went to work to provide for proper storage 
and other necessary accommodations for an efficient 
army depot at Cairo. I clearly foresaw that point must 
bean important depot. It was a most central point 
and, as an army depot, the most important in the 
whole southwestern country. Located in the fork 
of the two rivers, and reached by water and rail, it 
was the grand center of every movement, in that region 
and became the most important point at which all 
needful supplies should be always kept on hand. Most 
of the town at high-water in either of the rivers, would 
be under water and the only safeguard was the crest 
of the levee on the Ohio river, and on which the railwav 
tracks were laid, being only a small strip of dry land 
on which to erect store houses. This I improved, 



366 REMINISCENCES FROM DIA.RY 

however, and put men to work and soon had a laroe 
storehouse ready for use. Meanwhile, Captain Charles 
A. Tteynolds, assistant quartermaster, reported to me 
for duty, as also Capt. Richard McAllister, assistant 
commissary of tne subsistence department, and 
I was much relieved by assigning to those officers a 
portion of the details of the work to be done. I had 
also hired Capt. S. H. Turner, formerly of the Navy 
(away back in Mexican war times), to take charge of 
all the riv^er transportation which had grown to im- 
mense proportions. Meanwhile, Captain, or Commo- 
dore, Foot's mortar boats arrived from St. Louis and 
had to be towed up the Ohio and Tennessee rivers for 
service, which required the strongest propelling force 
to be had. 

These mortar boats were immense scoios or JJat- 
hoais, in the shape of a huge box, say foity feet long 
bv twenty feet wide with the mortar and its ammuni- 
tion on board. They drew from three to five feet of 
water and sitting square in the current, made it the 
heaviest possible drangljt against a strong current. 
The rivers were all rising rapidly with the melting of 
snows and the rains. It would be very difficult to 
describe the day and night labor necessary at that 
depot to meet the service. Tlie tax on mind and body 
was intense and constant, and with my worn and 
debilitated condition in both body and mind by ten 
years' camp life on distant frontiers, I often felt like 
giving up entirely. After Grant took Ft. Donelson, 
February, 1 862, the large number of prisoners taken were 
sent on steamers to Cairo to be distributed to places 
and prisons in the North, increasing greatly the work 
at the depot. Yery soon General Pope began opera- 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 367 

tions on the Mississippi river below Cairo, and con- 
tinued till he captured Island No. 10, as it was 
called, and that expedition increased very much 
my labors at Cairo, and which were still 
further increased by the occupation of other points 
on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, and on the 
Mississippi as far south as Memphis, which place I had 
to visit and establish a depot. Memphis had but lately 
fallen into the hands of the Federals, and General 
Grant was there for a Aveek or ten days with me 
arranging for its defense and protection and a depot 
for supplies. Gen. Geo. W. Cullum, of the engineers, 
Avas Ilalleck's chief of staff and he came to Cairo dur- 
ing February — messed with me and had office room 
with me, so he could be nearer the operations going 
on in Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi. Cullum's 
])resence there gave me much relief. I was a Ten- 
nessean and therefore distrusted by the Northern 
politician and political generals and colonels, and I 
was hounded by every volunteer officer (for whom I 
was working day and night to fit out for the field) 
only because I was a Southern man and a democrat! 
I had been for fourteen years on the frontiers, since 
the Mexican war, from which service I broufjht with 
me the fatal Mexican diarrhea which had clung to me 
all the time, and b}^ exposure and want of proper food, 
the disease had become chronic and crystallized into a 
gastritis, making my life and labors misery indeed. 
Cullum greath^ relieved me when he got settled in his 
office at Cairo. A volunteer brigadier general by the 
name of Strong, a wool merchant of New York City, 
had been assigned to command that part of Cairo, I 
presume to get rid of him at some other place. He 



368 REMIXI^CBNCES FROM DIARY. 

was a nice, social, pleasant counter-jnmper, and 
easy for an officer who knew his duties to get 
along with ; but as for military knowledge or 
experience, the horse he occasionally tried to ride was 
about his equal! Cullura was a New Yorker, but an 
old graduate, and he and I, of course, knew our own 
business, and enjoyed many hearty laughs at meal 
time at the splutter and effort of our •' woolen mer- 
cantile-general." Cullum, as I have said, lived with 
me and knew my every act and thought, as also his and 
my day and night labors. We never talked politics 
but devoted ourselves to the duties of the hour. 

One incident occurred about this time which I 
cannot omit to record. 1 had spared no pains to for- 
ward to Grant every thing he called for by river 
steamers. I had called on Colonel Swords at Louisville, 
and the quartermaster at Cincinnati, as also on Major 
Allen at St. Louis, for steamers for the purpose. At 
one time seventeen steamers w^ere up those rivers 
on General Grant's calls ; and none for two weeks had 
returned to Cairo ! The daily pay for them was 
enormous ; besides, I had none left for service, down 
the river or elsewhere ! I had given the masters of 
vessels orders to discharge their cargoes and return as 
soon as practicable and report to me. Still no boats 
returned! Louisville and Cincinnati were calling for 
their steamers to return ! I even heard that I was 
suspected of intentionally keeping those river trans- 
ports out of reach of needed service. Under these 
circumstances I sent one of my office clerks on a steam 
tug, with written instructions to proceed up the Tenn- 
essee and Cumberland rivers, and have each and 
every master of vessel read it. The instructions were 
as follows . 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 369 

" To the masters of steamers who have left the port 
of Cairo : 

This will be handed to you by Clerk Ed, E. White- 
house, and you are directed to return to this port 
with your boat without delay. All boats that fail to 
report at this depot within six days after reading this 
order will not receive any daily pay after the six days, 
unless the master can show written authority from the 
general commanding to remain longer, " 

My clerk visited all steamers and showed the order, 
and then visited General Grant's headquarters and 
showed the same to him (as I had told him to do). 
Grant read it, and kept it! and my clerk returned and 
reported his action. 

I heard nothing more from it for ten days, when I 
received the same by mail from Major Allen's office in 
St. Louis, with General Grant's endorsement on it as 
follows : 

" It seems to me Captain Turnley is more disposed 
to thwart my movements than to further them, at all 
events I know he cannot give me any advice. The 
rivers are full many places out of banks, and I need the 
steamers as floating storehouses and barracks, until 
the waters subside. U. S. Gkant, 

B7'ig. Gen. Comdg. 

Major Allen in his office in St. Louis read the paper 
and endorsement, then mailed it to me. 1 was both 
angry and surprised at Grant's endorsement. If he 
had endorsed merely the fact of high Avaters, and that 
he kept the boats on that account, it would have been 
perfectly satisfactory-^, because he was in command 
and had the authority to do as he liked ; but his gratu- 
itous and unwarranted expressions, as to my motives, 

24 



370 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

or disposition to "thwart" his "movements," was 
beyond explanation, except on the ground that he 
meant to do me all the harm he could personally and 
ofRcially. 

I heard no more of the matter and my official rela- 
tions with Grant went on the same as before. But 
my private opinion of him was greatly changed from 
that of earlv cadet acquaintance and army times, and 
has so remained to the present. I always knew from 
early cadet life that Grant was a quiet, cold, phleg- 
matic temperament, but never suspected, till then, that 
under and beneath all there lurked the spirit to wield 
a dagofer or act the midnight assassin, if need be, to 
achieve his object. His imperturbable nature, however, 
was his salient point in character. He knew no friend, 
no foe, except what stood in his way as to methods. 
As I have before said, he was a slugger in the broad- 
est and widest sense of the term. Some men fail 
because of drinking whisky, but Grant was one of 
the few temperaments who needed the stimulant in 
great quantity, and without it he, too, would have 
failed, even with " three to one." I have said nothing 
in anger, disappointment or revenge, but only the truth. 
Grant was exceptionally a great man, in hisway^ but 
his way was not in the line with a high sense of anoth- 
er's rights, feelings or comforts. As nature built him 
that way, he was not to be blamed for his methods. 
He could not help his make-up. It would be charita- 
ble to assume he was drunk when he wrote that 
endorsement, but I was not in a charitable mood when 
I read it, and I made up my mind he acted from a 
malignant heart, and chose a time and in a way he 
knew would best cater to the undercurrent of suspicion 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 371 

which then attached to every officer of Southern birth 
in the Federal army. I showed it to Cullnm, and he 
pronounced the endorsement simply hifawous and 
suo^orested that I make a counter endorsement and send 
copies to the quartermaster general and Secretary of 
War. I thought the matter over for a day or two, 
and came to the conclusion that Grant really meant 
what he said, and thab he had been just drunk enough 
to write it out on that paper on the maxim that " in 
vino Veritas.''^ I therefore put the following replication 
on the paper, had copies made and mailed to Washing- 
ton, as CuUura had suggested : 

" In reply to General Grant's most incomprehensi- 
ble endorsement, I have simply to sa3\ first, that sev- 
enteen steamers had gone up river to his command, 
and none had returned to this depot. I had no river 
transport for service elsewhere, and that is whv I sent 
notice to masters to return with their boats. General 
Grant says in the last part of his endorsement all he 
need have said at all, and had he done so, and returned 
it to me by my clerk, it would have been my duty and 
m}^ pleasure to have fully acquiesced in his action. But 
General Grant went out of his official line to indulge 
in language as to my motives or desires^ and is as un- 
just and as far from the truth as his method of express- 
ing the same is infamous and unworthy of a sober mmi, 
which charity inclines me to think Grant loas not 
when he wrote the endorsement. However, I sliall 
say no more ; ' soft words turneth away wrath.' 

P. T. TuRNLEY, A. Q. M., U. S. A." 

Finally, after Grant captured Fort Donelson, with 
many thousand prisoners, he wrote me to prepare at 
Oairo to receive those prisoners by installments as he 



372 EEMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

would send them down the river on steamers. This 
Avas done, and after a time steamers began to arrive 
with from two or three hundred to seven or eiglit hun- 
dred on each boat. The rivers were high and it was a 
very wet, cold spell of weather. The prisoners (Con- 
federates) had been for weeks in mud and water 
defendino- their fort, and when surrendered were in a 

CD • 

sorry fix. Everything in the fort was captured, of 
course, by Grant and his arm}^ among wdiich was sev- 
eral hundred boxes and packages of Confederate cloth- 
ing, much of which had never been opened. Scores of 
the Confederate soldiers on those steamers were sick 
with pneumonia, and every boat had from three to i)alf 
a dozen dead on board, with no boxes or coffins to put 
them in. The sick and the well were alike thinly clad 
even for good weather (only summer pants and jack- 
ets) ; not many had coats, and not one had an over- 
coat. Not one in ten had a blanket, and the dead Con- 
federate soldiers were lying about on decks and floors 
— had parted with life simply from exhaustion, cold 
and extreme exposure — with no head to direct and no 
heart to prompt the application of even the limited 
means at hand to remedy that condition. 

As I have stated, nearly every boat had on it many 
packages of clothing yet no hand or voice was raised 
to open these and clothe the men. The sight was 
pitiable, all the more so, to a human Christian officer^ 
as I claimed to be, and because of utter lack of heed 
or sympathy in the oflRcers and soldiers composing the 
escorts or guards on the different boats. I called Cul- 
lum's attention to the condition of several of the pris. 
oners, and after examining into the matter he became 
furiously angry and said severe things to the responsi- 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 373 

ble officers. It required many days for all these pris- 
oners to arrive and be disposed of. Some I put on 
cars at Cairo and sent up to Chicago, others I would 
direct to continue on steamers up to St. Louis and 
Alton. I kept ten or fifteen coal barges along shore 
at Cairo well supplied with coal for passing steamers, 
so that it was quite convenient for steamers to run 
alongside of a coal barge and replenish fuel. 

An episode occurred during this movement of Con- 
federate prisoners which ought to be embalmed in my 
reminiscences for future American citizens to read and 
ponder over, until such time as imperial power in this 
Union shall have succeeded our present so-called popular 
government, or the government of mob-ocracy or vox 
populi, and in its place establish the benign and divine 
government of the one dictator who will rule by divine 
right. Of course, those steamboats with prisoners were 
arriving at an}' time day or night, and the incident I 
am going to relate will be verbatim, as it occurred. It 
was on the wet, muddy, sloping levee at Caii o just mid- 
night, the 22d of February — Washington's birthday, as 
if to render still more grim and remorseless the events 
then transpiring. My office was on the crest of the 
levee (say 300 feet back from the waters edge). The 
boat's whistle sounded a few miles above, indicating she 
was to land. I got my umbrella (for it was pouring 
down rain) and called a messenger boy of my office to 
carry the lantern. I called my chief superintendent of 
all work, Mr. "William Chambers, also Isaac Jerome, 
in charge of ambulances, and we four took position on 
the levee and waited the landing of the steamer. In a 
short time, the gang-plank was rim out, and a young 
man in part uniform came ashore and walked up the 



374 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

levee to where I was standing with the messenger boy 
who was holding the lantern. The young man was, 
evidently, a lieutenant. He had his sword and straps 
on his shoulders, and a red stripe down the legs of his 
pants. Standing close behind me were Messrs. Cham- 
bers and Jerome, w^hile the messenger boy stood at my 
left side. When the lieutenant was within a yard of 
me he stopped and asked where the quartermaster's 
office was. I replied, "here it is." He looked surprised 
for a few seconds, then repeated his question. 1 will 
give the dialogue verbatim, as best calculated to ex- 
plain the incident. 

Lieut. "Where is the quartermaster's office ?" 

Turnley. "Here it is." 

Lieut. " Then, where is the quartermaster ?" 

Turnley. " Here he is. I am the quartermaster, 
AVhat will you have?" 

Lieut. "I have a lot of rebels on this boat and have 
orders to turn them over to the quartermaster at 
Cairo." 

Turnley. "What is your name?" 

Lieut. " Never mind my name — I want to turn 
over these rebels." 

Turnley. " Let me see your orders." 

Lieut. " That's my orders, to turn over these rebels 
to the quartermaster." 

Turnley. " How many have you ?" 

Lieut. "I don't know, about three hundred and 
fifty, I guess. 

Turnley. "What condition are the prisoners in? 
Are there any sick or dead men on your boat?" 

Lieut. "Yes, 1 guess half of 'em are sick, and I 
heard the boys saying five or six of 'em are dead." 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 375 

Turnley. " Have you any packages of clothing on 
board ?" 

Lieut. Yes, I understand there is a lot of rebel 
clothintj on the boat, but I have not seen it."' 

Turnle3\ ''Are the prisoners in need of clothing?" 

Lieut. " Now, look here, Mr. Quartermaster, I 
dont want to stand here all night to answer questions 
about these Johnny rebs — All I know I -have told you, 
and I want to turn them over and return to mv resri- 
ment, as I was ordered." 

Turnley^ '"Well, ray young man (the lieutenant did 
not look to be even 18 years old), I have instructions 
to send your steamer and prisoners on up to St. Louis, 
and perhaps to Alton — therefore you will drop down 
the river a few hundred yards, to where you see those 
red lights on coal barges, and take on fuel enough to 
run you to Gt. Louis." 

Lieut. ''Not by a h — 1 of a sight will I go up to 
St. Louis. I am going back from here." 

Turnley\ " Yes, but my orders supersede your 
first orders, and I give them to you from a higher 
authority^ than the one who first ordered you to come 
here." 

Lieut. " I don't care, I sha'n't obey you." 

Turnley. " Then give me your name." 

Lieut. "I sha'n't do that." 

Turn]e3^ " Who is that man just behind you?" 

Lieut. " That is one of my sergeants." 

Turnley. " Sergeant, are you on duty with the 
guard on that boat?" 

Sergeant. '• Yes, sir." 

Turnley. " Are there any dead men on board ? " 

Sergeant. '' Yes, sir, four." 



376 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

Turnley. "Mr. Chambers, send a half dozen boxes 
or coffins from the shop to that boat, and go yourself 
and have the bodies put into them. And, Sergeant, I 
order you to go on board and tell the master of the 
boat to come here to me." 

He did so, and in five minutes the master of the 
boat reported, and I directed him to drop down, take 
on coal, and proceed to St. Louis, which, of course, he 
proceeded to do. I had hired him and his boat weeks 
before, and had the written agreement in my office. 

While this was going on a large crowd of people 
had assembled on the levee. The rain had slackened. 
Torchlights in hanging iron baskets along the levee 
lighted up the space with lurid, dismal shadows. I 
further directed the sergeant and master of vessel to 
open any packages of clothing on board and issue to 
those prisoners in need. The obstreperous lieutenant, 
meanwhile, stood listening to all my orders, and the 
master of the vessel started on board to execute his 
orders, when the lieutenant broke out afresh, as follows : 

"D — d me, if I will go on with these d — d rebels! 
I was told to stop here and go back with this boat, and 
I mean to do it ! " 

Turnle}'. " My young man, you amaze me ! I can 
hardly believe you are an American officer. You cer- 
tainly lack the breeding and elements of a worthy 
officer, or even a gentleman, but your looks indicate 
youth and inexperience, wiiile your actions indicate 
great ignorance, or something worse. I shall dispatch 
this steamer to St. Louis, and to-morrow I will en- 
deavor to ascertain more about you." 

Lieut. " What makes you so d — d kindly disposed 
to them rebels? As for me, I wish the boat would 
blow up and kill every son of a bitch of 'em." 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 377 

Turiiley. " Now, sir ! Stop such language, or I 
will call the officer of the guard and put you under 
close arrest. I have been twenty years in the military 
service and feel ashamed to meet such a character 
holding a commission in the United States armv ! You 
say ' G — d d — d ' rebels as fluently as you could speak 
of horse thieves and robbers. Let me say to you that 
these men are prisoners of war, and as such are entitled 
to humane treatment. As to being rebels, neither you 
nor I can decide the question. In 1776, General 
Washington and his entire army were marked as rebels, 
but they grew to be the greatest patriots. Since tnat day 
we have not had any occasion to study the subject very 
closel}^ ; at present, the most Ave know is that these 
men are prisoners of war, and you have shown vourself 
to be a brute in human shape to have them under your 
care, dying on board from neglect, cold and exposure, 
while ample clothing, captured from them, is at your 
hand to issue to them in place of the wet, muddy 
clothing they have on, and have worn for weeks in 
their trenches. This is all I have to say to you to- 
night, and I hope you will give what I have said some 
thought. To-morrow T will see you again." 

This closed the incident, and by this time it was at 
least an hour after midnight. The boat was soon 
supplied with coal, a number of coffins put on board 
and the four corpses put in, so that their comrades 
might bury them at St. Louis or Alton, and everybody 
sought his bed for the rest of the night. Time went 
on, and so did daily rush of work. I almost forgot, in 
the succeeding months of labor and worry, this inci- 
dent. Little, indeed, did I dream that at the very time 
I was talking to that insubordinate and idiotic fledge- 



378 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

ling of a lieutenant, that a regularly empJoijed spy and 
detective was in the crowd on the levee, close to me, 
takino^ down all that was said — and before noon the next 
day as much of it as he could garhle or manipulate 
was sent over the wires to E. S. Stanton, Secretary of 
War. I did not learn this, however, until months 
after. It was on my return in July from establishing* 
a depot at Memphis, to my office at Cairo that, in a 
large mail which had accumulated, during ray absence, 
I received the following as a third reminder from the 
War Office. The acting Secretary-of-War's letter is as 
follows : 

war department. 

Washington City, D. C. ) 
July 5th, 1862. \ 

Sir: Information has been received at this depart- 
ment from an apparently responsible source, to the 
effect that you have manifested a spirit of disloyalty, 
and that you have not properly and faithfulh^ dis- 
charged the duties of j^our position as assistant quarter- 
master at Cairo. 

It is alleged that you have frequently and publicly 
stated that your heart was with the South in this rebel- 
lion, and that you intended to reside there at no dis- 
tant day; that upon another occasion, while you were 
present at the shipment of some captured goods, or- 
dered from Cairo to St. Louis, for the purpose of cloth- 
ing rebel prisoners there, you were terribly profane, 
and declared that the officers of General Grant, en- 
gaged in forwarding the goods, were infinitely worse 
than their original owners; that Washington and Jef- 
ferson were the first and greatest rebels our country 
ever had — and other language of similar import. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 37& 

Concerning the second point in the information 
above mentioned, it is stated that your manners have 
been insolent, uncivil and ungentlemanly toward 
Union officers, and that you have tolerated like man- 
ners in your clerks, that officers and men have pre- 
sented their requisition for property, properly attested 
and approved by the commanding officer, and the com 
mandant of the post, all in due form, but that notwith- 
standing this, they were subjected to such insult 
and annoyance before obtaining their supplies, that 
they would sit down, weary and disgusted, declaring 
that they would rather pay out of their own pockets 
for the goods wanted, than again trouble you, and ex- 
perience such bad treatment — that you are rich and 
therefore indifferent. 

These statements are in the language of the inform- 
ant, who seems to be responsible, and are communi- 
cated to you by order of the Secretary of War, to give 
you an opportunity of submitting any explanation you 
may have to make. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

C. P, WOLCOTT, 

Assistant Secretary of War. 
Capt. p. T. Turnley, 

Assistant Quartermaster, Cairo, Illinois. 
The foregoing was very interesting reading for me 
on the 20th of July when I reached Cairo from a most 
fatiguing trip to Memphis! I wondered and won- 
dered and wondered, for three days and nights, who 
on God's green earth could have had the gall, enmity 
and fiendish spirit to give such statement to the War 
Department — at long range — and at the same time make 
it appear to Mr. C. P. Wolcott, Assistant Secretary of 



380 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

War or to his chief, that it was '"'• (ipparently from a 
responnhle soureeP However, guessing was useless, 
besides, this was tlie third reminder, and I proposed to 
make it the last ! (In this I succeeded !) 

I closed up my accummulated mail and rested a 
few days, reading over and over the Assistant Secre- 
tary Wolcott's letter ; and I finally called my private 
secretary, Mr. Henry Whitehouse, to take and enter 
the letter as of record in my office. 

I then wrote two different letters in answer. The 
first was a most respectful, polite and long letter, 
embodying the charity, benevolence, forgiveness and 
Christian love suggested by the Apostle's injunction to 
one's enemies. The second was shorter and more 
businesslike, but in every way respectful and official. 
I then ate dinner at 6 p. m. and went to bed at 9, 
slept soundly and woke up fresh, cool and collected, 
but did not go into the office where there were half a 
dozen clerks attending to the multifarious affairs of 
active current service, but staid in my room on that 
infernal levee at Cairo, hot as a July sun can make — 
stripped to my shirt sleeves, opened a bottle of Julien's 
best claret, and cooled myself with divers claret 
punches. Finally, about 12 m., I sat down to write a 
third reply to the Assistant Secretary of War. 
I had read over and over again my first two, 
and did not like either of them. There was 
too much of them. As by inspiration it flashed on 
me, why should I temporize or explain ? I had noth- 
ing to explain! "The information receiv^ed at this 
department from 'apparently responsible source,'" 
was every word, letter and syllable, false! It was 
useless for me to speculate as to who the malicious 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 381 

fiend could be. As also futile for me to asli: the author 
of such accusations. I therefore settled down to a very 
short and terse answer ; because, first, I was amazed at 
the accusations, with not one iota of recollection of any 
occurrences which could have given grounds for such. 
Even the incident with the lieutenant, in charge of the 
prisoners away back in February, did not occur to my 
mind at the moment. Secondly, because I was placed 
in the position to "explain" in the darlv whatever 
occurred, and to thus attempt to meet some hidden 
enemy or a conspiracy. I therefore made my answer 
short, independent and to the point which I and not 
mine enemy would have, as follows: 

Depot Quartermaster's Office, ) 

Cairo, III., July 25, '62. f 
To THE Hon. C. P. Wolcott, 

Asst. Sec. of War, Washington, D. 0. 

8ir: On my return from Memphis three days since, 
where I went to establish a depot of supplies, I find 
in my Cairo office, your letter of 5th inst., which I 
have most carefully read and considered in all the 
hidden features as presented to my mind. To say that 
I am amazed at its contents falls far short of conveying 
my feelings. For me to offer " explanations " as the 
Secretary suggests, would be as ridiculous as futile on 
m}'" part; because the whole tissue of accusations is to 
me the most extraordinary piece of fiction that a dis- 
tempered mind could invent — or the most malignant 
assassin, in the darkness of night, would venture to 
concoct and utter ! 

Therefore, Mr. Secretary, I have to say, that if my 
constant day and night worry and labor, with every 
effort of body and mind, during — I may sa}' for twenty 



383 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

years — is not satisfactory to the Government nor 
received in confidence and good faith by the War 
Department— then I respectfully request the acceptance 
of my resignation, which was submitted bv me while 
in Utah, May, 1860. 

I have the honor to be respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

P. T. TURNLEY. 

Assistant Quartermaster, U. S. A. 
P. S. 1 contracted and brought from my service 
in Mexico, in 1848, that prevalent Mexican diarrhoea, 
which has continued with me ever since until I am 
now weak and feeble with a chronic gastritis, and must 
have relief from work. 

I am, very respectfully, 

P. T. TuRNLEY, 

Assistant Quartermaster, U. S. A. 
War department in reply to mine : 
war department. 

Washington City, D. C, ) 
August, 1862. \ 

Sh': Your letter of 25th ult. is received and I am 
directed by the Secretary of War to say that your 
explanation of accusations filed in this office against 
you is entirely satisfactory. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

C. P. WOLCOTT, 

Assistant Secretary of War. 

To P. T. TuRNLEY, 

Assistant Quartermaster, Cairo, 111. 
So ended the matter and I was not long in turning 
my face northward toward the great Lake Michigan. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 383 

But I made it mv business therafter to institute a quiet 
search for the author of that report, but only partially 
succeeded. I gathered little by little, from a couple of 
friends in Cairo, then from a friend close to General 
Grant's headquarters, sufficient to convince m}^ own 
mind that Grant knew very much, if not all, about it. 
Then two years thereafter 1 got a few ])ointers from 
a sub-official about the office of Secretary of War 
Stanton, from which I was lead to think at least that 
a detective had been assigned to dutv at Cairo, espe- 
cially to watch me ; of which, at that time, however, 
I was as ignorant as the unborn babe. Six years after- 
ward, I had strong grounds for believing that Ulysses 
S. Grant suggested to the War Department to send to 
Cairo such detective, and in a measure, stood sponsor 
for the infamous accusations against me at that depot 
in 1862. A man by name of Allen Pinkerton, of 
Chicago (but prior to that from Canada), a mongrel 
Scotch-Welsh-English-Canadian, was in some wa}' em- 
ployed on tiie Potomac, or about Washington, to do 
detective work and after the war he established a 
large office in Chicago and a very extensive detective 
ajrencv all over the countrv. When I returned to live 
in Chicago, in 1868, I sought an introduction to Pink- 
erton and visited him in liis office frequently, and sam- 
pled his bourbon and brandy, for he was very hospita- 
ble. In this way, I got sufficiently acquainted to talk 
freely about war times then past and gone, and his 
work in it as a detective, till by and by he told me 
that back in the spring of 1862, the War Department 
had directed him to send a detective to General Grant, 
in Tennessee, for service at Cairo. This was enough 
for me to know and I had the satisfaction of knowins; 



384 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

I had barely escaped the barbed net hiid for ine b\^ a 
worse than Judas Iscariot. I never have had reason to 
believe otherwise than that Grant at least knew all 
about it — iiorrible as it was to think this. On my trip 
to Cairo to establish that depot, in July, 1802, I took 
my wife along on the steamer, and the day after we 
got to Memphis General Grant and his wife arrived 
there also, and remained for a few days for Grant to 
give orders and gather facts as to the Confederate 
movements. During this time my wife and self exerted 
ourselves to make it pleasant for both Grant and his 
wife. We gave them the best dinner at the best hotel, 
still open, that we could get up, employed a decent 
hack or carriage and drove them all about the town, 
and as far out in the country as it was safe to go, for 
all of which Grant appeared as thankful as his nature 
enabled him to be, though he never overflowed with 
words pro or con. When years after this and after I 
discovered a chain leading up to him as having guilty 
knowledge at least of the snares laid for me awav 
back in the previous spring, at Cairo, I felt a disgust 
not necessary to express in words. I chewed and then 
swallowed the cud of entire loss of confidence or 
respect for Ulysses S. Grant. As I am writing up this 
diary in my library, 584 Wabash avenue, Chicago, 
Grant — the great slugger — is taking his first lessons in 
the art of being President. So I shall possess m}'- soul 
in peace, but try to keep warm my orthodox anathema 
marantlia^^ until his '"Excellency'- shall step down 
to the ranks of the humble citizen. I Avill then face 
the little-big man with m\^ suspicions and beliefs, and 
hear his side of the story and have him explain his 
endorsements about steamers as well. 



KE.MINISCKNCES FHO.M DIARY. :!85 



CHAPTER XVI. 

I had, in April, applied to be relieved from duty, 
because of extreme weakness and feeble health. Soon 
after I took n\y wife and two litlle gii'ls, Emma and 
Mamie, to Xiagara and on through the lakes to 
Quebec, thence to Boston, and from there we 
stopped for a few days in Greenfield, Massa- 
chusetts, where I learned that General Charles P. 
Stone, my classmate at AVest Point, was in LaFay- 
ette prison. I was amazed at this; I knew he had 
been relieved from his command on the Potomac some 
time previous, and placed in arrest for some hatched- 
up semi-political action or words, but was surprised to 
learn he was in prison all the time since the previous 
March. Stone's sister, m Greenfield, informed me of 
this matter. lie was one of my tour room-mates at 
West Point when we first reported as cadets ; we 
occupied the same room, as narrated in previous chap- 
ter. We had alwavs been warm personal friends, he 
from Massachusetts and I from Tennessee. He had 
resigned from the army in 1S56, and I knew he wps 
one of the first to offer his services to the Federal 
Government, earl}^ in 18(31. I was quite sure he could 
not be other than a loyal officer, and was uneasy to 
know why he should be tiius a prisoner by his own 
government, /had perhaps /'^s•^'/y been marked a fit 
subject for suspicion, myself, but Stone nerm-. At the 
solicitation of Stone's sisters to do what I could to 
.effect his release, or else his speedy trial, I went to 
Washington and called on President Lincoln, making 
known the object of my visit and relating to him all I 



386 llEMINISCENCES FRO^I DIARY. 

knew of Stone, our long acquaintance, etc., and then 
requested to know why Stone was thus a pi-isonei-. 
Tlie President heard me ]iatiently, and said lie "did 
not know,'' but he would write a line for me to hand 
to Mr. Stanton, the Secretary of War, and perhaps he 
could tell me all about it. I took his note, and as soon 
as I could get to Mr. Stanton's office, and to his pres- 
ence, delivered it. He read it, and then asked me what 
I wished. 1 told him all I had said to the President, 
and much more of like tenor and effect. Considering 
the still warm accusations against my own loyalty antl 
discharge of duties, I confess it was of doubtful policy 
for me to ])resent iriyself to the Secretary of War in 
behalf of another officer, who, possibly, was under like 
accusations. But when I consiilered that General Stone 
was from old Massachusetts, to the manor born. 1 was 
sure there must be some mistake about his long im- 
prisonment. Considering the reputaiion Stanton liatl 
for cutting officers short in their calls on him, it was 
to say the least, a hazardous experiment on my part; 
at a time, too, when the mildest suspicion was woi-kcd 
up against so man}^ faithful officers, who were in com- 
mon fairness and of right beyond suspicion. I felt, 
liowever, that innocence had no ground for shrinking 
from a humane duty. I had always acted the part of 
an honorable American citizen and a faithful, trusted 
officer in all duties confided to me, and my vevy bold- 
ness was a surprise to Stanton, who was noted for 
most arbitrary and unreasonable treatment of army 
officers, whom, from any cause, he did not like. Stan- 
ton had, before the war, been a loud-s})oken democrat 
in politics, but from causes unknown to the outside 
world, he joined the federal republicans, and fi'om a 



REMINISCENCES FIIOM DIARY. 387 

democratic, peaceful, anti-war politician, he became a 
rabid war man. No doubt, Stanton became distrustful 
of the efficienc}' of educatetl officers, because of the 
many incompetent men given high rank through the 
poh'tical favoritism then rampant about Washington. 
This led him to doubt nil nl'd'e, and he held himself 
ready to accuse, and to help persecute, whosoever 
carried a sword and incurred the displeasure of an in- 
fluential political coterie. General Stone's arrest, im- 
prisonment, and persecution was, in fact, the malig- 
nant work of a United States Senator from Stone's 
own State. Hell itself was smouldering in every pol- 
itician's heart and mind, and in some it was seethino- 
liot and uncontrolable. Victims were demanded, and 
must be had at any price ; so that in the case of Gen- 
eral Stone, Stanton was merely the intermediate and 
passive official instrument of inflicting on an innocent 
officer irreparable, not to sav brutal, outrage, to 
gratify the fiendish malignity of a political zealot, 
whose ])ersonal cowardice was measured inversely bv 
liis pretended zeal. 

But Secretary Stanton, after hearing me through, 
was as courteous and considerate as I could have 
desired. Stanton listened to all T had to say with 
apparent interest, and dismissed me with the iiemark 
that he " would look into the case of General Stone 
and take action on it at an early day." With this as- 
surance 1 left him and rejoined my family. It was less 
tlian ten days thereafter that I learned General Stone 
had been released without trial and returned to duty. 
Rut not on the Potomac or in Virginia. I think he 
joined Banks in the south trans-Mississippi. It was 
some 3''ears after 1 learned incidentally, that Senator 



388 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

Sumner was the prime mover in General Stone's 
arrest, and was the ])ower behind tiie throne which 
imprisoned an innocent officer under the very noses of 
Lincoln and Stanton, both of whom were politicians, 
and kindly catered to their political friends regardless 
of the sufferings and wrongs visited on the innocent. 
Such is papuldi' government. "What a commentary on 
our boasted government of law. God save the mark. 
And may God protect the weak, which, in our boasted 
free government, our laws sadly fail to do. 

That autumn, I obtained an extension of leave till 
April. 1863, when I went to Washington and called on 
Surofeon-General Barnes. I was still weak and feeble, 
almost a skeleton, and Barnes was amazed at my ap- 
pearance. Barnes and I had served together in Texas, 
in 1848, but we had not met since, until my call on him, 
as above. I told him of my lingering gastritis and 
nervous prostration, and that I felt as if a sea voyage 
would benefit me. He at once fully agreed with me 
that such was the best and proper course : and said he, 
"Go write you application for a six months' leave, with 
permission to go beyond the seas, and I will place on 
it such endorsement as will insure it being granted." 
This I did, and the next day I had the leave. 

I wrote my wife, then in Chicago, to get ready to 
accompany me over the deep Atlantic. I called on the 
Secretary of State, paid the five dollars and obtained 
a passport, hurried to Chicago, to arrange private affairs 
and get my wife. AVe were living at Dr. David Gut- 
ter's (m}^ wife's father), at 119 Wabash avenue, Chi- 
cago, and where we were to leave our two children 
(Emma and Mamie). I got mv money matters 
arranged for our trip, and at \\ m., March 2G, 1S63, 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 359 

we kissed the children good-bye, and toolc the cars for 
New Yoik. The sleeping car at that day was a fraud 
and a discomfort, especially' as the ]\Iiciiigan Central 
then boasted of gi-eat comfort to its passengers. How- 
ever, we crossed at Detroit, took the Great Western to 
Niagara b\' 7 p. m. next day, about 280 miles from 
Detroit, thence by New York Central. At the next 
morning reaching Schenectady, we wei'e roused from 
our bunks and infc^rmed that the ice on the Hudson 
river prevented our ei'ossing, and we had to change 
and go l)y Troy; we arrived in New York by mid- 
night, and got a room at the Albemarle Hotel, on 
Tiiirtietii and Broadway. We remained at the Albe- 
marle, visiting friends in the city and sight seeing, till 
the 8th of A[)ril. when we took a 7 o'clock breakfast 
iit the hotel and then a carriage for the steamer Asia, 
bound to Liverj)ool. By ten o'clock all passengers 
were on board, and the vessel getting up steam, and by 
12 M. we were off. 

It is not necessai-y to describe our daily experience 
on ship board ; that has been done a thousand times by 
i)etter writers than I, and as our run to Liverpool was 
in pleasant weather, nothing of interest calls for notice. 
A))ril 10th we ran up the Afersey ; dropped anchor 
at 5 ]•. M. and conveyed from the ship to the wharf 
by a small mail and [>assenger Ixjat. Arriving at the 
wharf, the crowd of 100 passengers, who, for eleven 
days were social and entertaining to each other, now 
parted in a few moments never to meet again I To 
some, no doubt, it was a joyful relief, but to others, 
perliaps, a sad prospect in a strange land. 

We hastened to the Washington Hotel, a large, fine 
hostelry, as things were then in that countrv. We got 



390 KEMINISCENCES FIfO.M DIAHY. 

to bed eaiiy, but l)y midnight, I became so sea sick I 
had to get up and relieve my stomach by casting- up 
accounts. This was the sti-angest featui'e to me ol' sea- 
sickness. 1 aui not sea-sick oji board ship, but a feu- 
hours after ti-oinir on shore. I have mv turn at it, much 
the same as others iiave on board. The next day wo 
spent in a carriage sight-seeing and saw all we cared 
to, packed our hand luggage and the next morning, 
21st, left foi' London. We spent forty-two hours at thi> 
hotel, had the simple hotel table meals, with no extras, 
and our bill for only two was live })ounds, seven- 
teen shillings and three pence, or $25.37-^ American 
irold, or about seven dollars a dav each I Leaving 
Liverpool at 11:30 a. m., we were off in the cai's and 
at 6:30 r. m., we hinded at our hotel, tiie Westminster 
Palace. In this we made a mistake, as it is one of th*^ 
most expensive and least comfortable hotels in London. 
For Americans not ])osted in the methods of those 
liotels where every thing you may want to a gill of 
cold water, must be ordered, and it goes on your bill. 
After a few days I found a quiet private house, kept 
bv Mr. U. Flemmino-, on Ilalfmoon street, just off 
Picadilly street, to which we removed ; and in paying 
our bill at the Westminster Palace, we* discovered we 
had incurred a bill of $5.50 each, or ^11 per day for 
the two, and yet we had not had as much food or 
accommodation in the four days as one person 
ordinarily consumes at an American hotel in one tiay. 
At Mr. Flemming's we remained until May Sth, having 
visited every point of historical interest. jMeanwiiile, 
I had engaged Louis Herite as a guide, or courier, as 
they are called, and at 10 a. m.. May 8th, we set out 
for Folkestone on the Fnolisii Channel, about seventv 



UEMINISUENCES FROM DIARY. :]91 

miles from London, where we arrived at 1:30 p. m.; 
there we took steamer for Boulogne sur Mere, France, 
arrived that night at 7. Folkestone is a bright sunny 
little town not noted for anything special, unless it be 
as the birthplace of Harvey, the alleged discoverer of 
the circulation of the blood in the human system. 
Boulogne, France, is a quaint old place pei'ched on the 
hill, not unlike Quebec, Canada. The place is quiet, 
surrounded by high stone walls, (say G(HI yards s(|uare). 
The new cathedral is within these walls iind was still 
unfinished. I noted that much of tiio marble used 
formerly in the old cha[)el was being cut up and used 
in the new cathedral. We spent till 12 noon on the 
i)th making a lour of the anti(]uated village. Leav- 
iiiii' there at I j*. m., on the OlIi, we took cars for Paris, 
where we arrived at 7 v. m. and were soon in the little 
old-fashioned lloteld'Orient, at-lS RueNeuve St. Augus- 
tine. I did not feel well, and very S(JOn settled in our 
room. Next day, Sunday, the loth, I felt a little 
better and at 1»:30 a. m , we took cars lifteen miles to 
the Palace Versailles. It were useless for me to 
attemi:)t desci'ipti(jn in this nari'ative of the extent and 
magnificence of that old ])alace, other travelers whose 
pen and desci i[)tive powers are niore supple and agile 
than mine have doubtless done the work since my 
visit, now many years past. The extensive parks, 
woodlantis, lakes and lawns, all in the highest state of 
presei'vation and i'ei)air, amazed and gladdened one's 
view, outside, whde inside, the immense palace, with 
its great number of suits of rooms, gorgeous furniture, 
carriiiiies of state use<l 1)V Toi'mum' kiiijis and princes 
almost bewildered the mind (jf a ])lebfian, from the 
wikis of our American fiontleis. From thei'e 



393 KEMINISC'ENCES FROM DIARY. 

we retui'ned to Paris dined, and then strolled 
around the Jardin de Fleurs till !) p. yi. when we 
returned to our hotel. Monday we went through the 
(Jardin de Tuilleries, the Chapel des Invalids and 
(idolatoi's like) looked at the tomb of Napoleon I, 
thence to the exhibition of industry, where are 
exhibited the numerous works of living artists, thence 
to the Cafe Canton, where three or four very homely 
females tried to sing in open air. Hundreds, if not 
thousands of seats and small tables are there provided 
for the throngs who frequent the place to while away 
a few hours. At one of these we rested a while, and 
took a cup of coffee, and heard the orchestra dispense 
very good music. After seeing all we cai'ed to, we 
went to a French circus and saw vei-y fine perfoi'mances 
of riding horseback by four girls and four men, also 
excellent rope dancing by a small girl. It closed with 
a large cai- containing lions, being rolled into the ring, 
and the keeper of the brutes went into the cage or car 
and made his pets perform all sorts of trick's. We did 
not get to our hotel till near midnight dud I was very 
tired. Mary, my wife, never tired of sight-seeing. I 
confess that my weak condition lessened very greatly 
my interest in everything. The next (hiy. we went to 
the guard mounting in front of the Empress' quarters 
at the Tuilleries, l)ut the crowd was so dense we soon 
tired of it and went to the Palace Louvre, and spent 
three hours going through it, viewing the hundreds of 
paintings of the French, Italian and German schools, 
till, tired out. we returned to the hotel. 

Ilowevei', I am drifting too much into detail. I 
shall stop at once. AVhat I have said will give some 
idea of the labor and fatigue of sight-seeing in Europe, 



REMINISCENCES FRO:\I DIARY. :393 

and also of tlie extent we trietl to ramble through tlie 
niain parts of cities. 1 shall not give details any more, 
but leave Paris for Lyons, thence across the Alps to 
Genoa, Leghorn, Rome, Naples, and i)y steamer back 
1o where we got cars at Milan. From Milan to Lakes 
Como and Magyiore, and back over the Alps to Gen- 
eva, thence to, and down tbe Rhine to Cologne on 
steamer, thence by rail to Brussels, and on through 
Paris back to London, thence by way of Carlyle to 
Edinburgh, from there to Glasgow, thence back to 
Liverpool, where we sailed for Boston, home and fi-iends 
— where we ai'rived about the last of August. 1 felt 
no sti'onger in health than when I started. Indeed, I 
had worked harder than if I had been on dut}^ though 
quite unwittingly, and from curiosity I Anxiety of 
mind, too, worried me. Our civil war was gointr on 
fiercer than ever. I had four sisters, three in Arkansas, 
and one in Tennessee. All with families (one a widow), 
broken up on their little farm, by first the Federal, then 
tl)e Confederate troops. Some of them living under 
bed-(|uilts sj)read over the bent bows of the bushes! 
i naturally felt a desii-e to be whei'e I could render 
some assistance to my unfoilunate sisters, wlien called 
fo!'. They were suffering most emjihaticaliy the hard- 
ships of the innocents I It was slave-holder and anti- 
slave-holder now at war, yet my sisters never owned a 
slave in the world. Their husbands, sons and daughters 
were industrious workei's, with neat farms, houses and 
barns — the fruit of their own labor; but now all torn 
up, destroyed or carried off by two contending factions, 
I'egardless of the innocent! On my way to Chicago, 
1 stopped over a day at Niagara Falls, and while 
There received an order from the War Department, for- 



394 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

warded to me from Ciiicag'o, to I'eport myself m j)er- 
son in Wilmington, Delaware, to (tcu. Irvin McDowell, 
wlio was there as })i'esident of a retiring board, whose 
duties were to inquire into the actual condition of sick 
and disabled officers, and recommend to the President 
such action as tiiey believed best. Starting my wife on to 
Cliicago alone, I returned East to Wilmington and re- 
ported as directed. 1 was examined and retired from 
active service in the following language: — " For long 
and faithful services and disease contracted in the line 
of duty." 

1 then went on to Chicago, whei'e I rested fi'om all 
lalxjr with my wife and two children during that win- 
ter (1 863). Ivirly in ] 8(1-1- I learned that two of my 
sisters in Arkansas, living six miles from Tine llluff, 
were in a very destitute condition. One had four chil- 
dren, all girls, the other a widow with four children, 
two boys and two girls. I started to their relief at 
once. Passino- through Little Rock I met General 
Fred Steel whom I had known as a cadet, and in the 
]\[exican war. Steel was chief in command at Little 
Rock and that part of the southwest. With his per- 
mission, and in fact recpiest, I rigged up a small 
steamer, which he desired to load with commissary 
stores for a detachment of troops at Pine Bluff, and 
went with it to that little town, fifty miles from Little 
Rock, where I found Colonel Clayton in command. I 
told Colonel Clayton ni}' business, and he kindly 
placed an escort at my service, and I went to where 
my sisters lived (they were only half a mile apart, and 
six miles from Pine Bluff). After due examination I 
found I could do nothing for them where tliey were; 
so I obtained from Colonel Clavton three wagons, and 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. nm 

moved them all into the town of Pine Bluff, comprising 
twelve persons in the two families; and I rented a 
house sufficiently large to accommodate them and sup- 
plied them with provisions, fuel, etc., to last them for 
two months; or, till the first of May. Taking one of 
the oldest sons of my oldest sister with me, I traveled 
on horseback, fifty miles to Little liock and thence by 
railway to Ball's Bluff, then operated by the Govern- 
ment ; and from there by steamer down White rivei- to 
the ]\Iississippi I'iver, and up that river to Memphis. 
There I met for the first time, my cousin. Laura Kibbe, 
with her four little chi'dren (the oldest only ten years) 
whose husband was somewhere with the Confederates, 
and she had sought shelter in Mem])his \vith little else 
than her four helpless children! I was glad to be 
able to give her some assistance, though not as much 
as her condition needed. But I made hei' comfortable. 
From there I took a steamer up i'iver to Caii'o, thence- 
by rail to Evansville, Indiana, in search of a moi'e com- 
f'oi'table abode for my two sisters and families (left at 
Pine Bluff), to shelter them during the war. J faded 
to find one at Evansville, and continued on to Cincin- 
nati and above that; still finding nothing I I'eti'aced 
my course back to Madison, Indiana, where, foi- four 
thousand dollars, I purchased a large, s<]uare dcnible 
brick house — ample for the accommodation of them 
all ; and started the oldest son, whom I had biought 
with me, back to bi'ing the families to this new home; 
while I returned to invown family in Chicago to await 
notice of their arrival in Madison ! After a cou|)le of 
weeks' waiting- and gettin"- no information, I returned 
to Madison and there waited till the steamer which 
they were on arrived ; and, as speedily as I could, got 



.>!)6 REMINISCENCES FRO.'SI DIARY. 

thoni in comfortable quarters. Some of them were 
very sick, clan<i,erously so, with pneumonia. However, 
all got well and lived quietly, and with more comfoi't 
than for some time befoi'e. One of these sisters was 
the oldest of my father's family, and was at that time 
forty-six yeai'S of age, the mother of eight children, 
five of whom were living. IJer three eldest were bovs, 
and were conscripted intC) the Confederate service 
early in 180:2. They served tlieir term and returned 
home, but wei'e again called upon for further service 
and having declined to go. it became necessary for them 
to leave home, or live in hiding, which rendered them 
useless to their mother either as help or protection. 
One of I hem sickened and died ; and one other pre- 
pared, filially, to join a Confederate company rather 
than j)ass his time hiding in the woods. The third, antl 
oldest, was the one 1 brought north with me. The 
other children were all girls, the eldest thirteen and 
the youngest four 3'ears. The other sister, then forty 
years of age, had four children, all girls, the eldest six- 
teen and the youngest but one year old. Of course 
their coming N<ji'th necessitateil their leaving behind 
all they possessed on earth (that had not been de- 
stroyed i)y armies) exce]>t the clothes they wore, and 
they had to be entirely ]irovided for, while not one was 
able or capable of rendering any assistance! Mean- 
while, and before their arrival, a third sister, unmar- 
ried, active and competent, had arrived from Missis- 
sippi (where she had su])ported herself by teaching for 
six years), and she put the new home in complete order 
and there I'emained to aid and assist the rest. Late in 
the fall of 18f)4 a fourth sister from East Tennessee, 
the birthplace of us all, with her three children also 



REMINISCE XCES FlKni DIARY. :!9: 

iiacl to flee from tlie terroi'sof war in Jefferson countv, 
Tennessee! And thus it occurred tliat all of om 
''mother's chicks" had come together, by sti-ess of 
war, which none of iis had any hand in fomenting, noi- 
much interest left in its termination! 

Uut there was still our father absent from us ! and 
worse still, he was languishing in a vile, cold and 
cheerless Federal i)rison at Knoxville, Tennessee, onlv 
thirty miles from his birthplace. To get him was the 
next step, and in doing so I cannot omit to record an 
episode in the life and treatment of my dear old fathei', 
John C. Turnley, near Dandridge, Tennessee, to whom 
I made a visit February, 1S61, as related in previous 
pages. He luis just gone to his peaceful grave two 
months past (June 10, 1871), and cannot know what I 
shall now record of his sufferings of bodv and mind, 
nor mv expressions of his braverv and o-oodness of 
heart. But that otheis mav gather knowledo-e of 
man's inhumanity to man, for the mere pleasure of 
passing the time I will indulge in a few pages which all 
people. North and South, might read with profit. 

THE EPISODE OF JOHN ('. TURNLEY's SUFFERIjN'GS. 

Upon the first opening of the reign of terroi' in 
Tennessee, September, 1861, John C. Turnley, so long- 
accustomed to hold the ear and confidence of his im- 
mediate community in political matters, stepped forth, 
and in plain and forcible argument pleaded for order ; 
for unity of sentiment, if possible ; but, above all, for 
mutual toleration; and for a time his white hairs were 
lionored, and words welcomed and deferred to even at 
the most violent meetings of both political factions. 
He was a native of, and politically for Southern success, 
but not an original secessionist ; yet, before and above 



308 re\hniscencp:s from diary 

^lU, he labored for toleration and fraternal concord 
amons: neio-hbors. While any restraintof law remained 

DO ^ 

in that distracted part of the State he wronglit iiis good 
work; quieting political animosities, and inducing' his 
neisrhborsand friends to await the results of war without 
personal bitterness. As an evidence of the single- 
hearted honesty of his life, numbers of iiis neighbors 
who took the opposite political side from himself stood 
his fast fi'iends, mutuall\" assisting and being assisted 
bv each other. 

The lower orders and the less intelligent portion of 
the i>eople had been harangued into frenzy by dema- 
irocues of tlieir own class, who, bv a little more intelli- 
irence, had only become more brutal than themselves. 
Thev were, in some instances, })reachers, who, having 
long practiced upon the credulity and superstitions of 
their subjects, had acquired a j)eculiar power over 
them. One of these human monsters has been already 
named, and while England records the name of Wat 
Tyler or Guy Fawkes, the State of Tennessee will pre- 
serve in execration the name of William Ganway 
Brownlow I Infuriated mobs traversed the length and 
breadth of the mountainous region with the spirit of 
demons I No age, sex, nor condition was spared ; it 
would have been unreasonable to hope that such a man 
as Turnle}' — a landmark of peace and order, and one 
who scorned to dissenible his convictions of right for 
fear or favor — could escape I For awhile, indeed, a 
kind of respect attached to the old man who had so 
long been recognized as an adviser and counsellor, and 
by the needy as a helper (for his scant}' stores were 
always open to the poor, and there was a seat by his 
lireside and a plate at his table for the humblest in the 



REMINISUENX'ES FROM DIARY. 309 

knd). Gradually, however, this restraint wore away 
as the fury of war increased, and as men's savao-e 
natures developed by internecine war, the appetite of 
the mob became whetted b}' indulgence. Tnrnlev was 
scented out and made a close prisoner in his own house 
entirely because the old man counseled toleration and 
harmony. Nothing but the fidelity of his two faithful 
negro servants, Avho iiid him m the cellar and resorted 
to innumerable devices to deceive and mislead his 
enemies, could have saved him from such a death as 
many of his neighbors met — some being scouro-ed, 
others hanged and strangled by degrees, while a few 
were more mercifully shot I 

The savage Indians were poor expedients compared 
■with these equally savage and far more cruel whites of 
East Tennessee Knobs. If Brownlow published in his 
" Knoxville AVhig " that such or such a one ouo-ht to 
be hanged, the obedient pack had but to catch the note, 
and the victim was dragged to a tree or gate post. Did 
he sav one ought to be scourged, it was done even to 
the death ; and if, in the very poetry of vituperation, 
he declared a man deserved to be flayed alive, it was 
executed with sickening fidelitv ! My father on beino- 
released from Knoxville prison walked, almost blind, 
thii'ty-two miles to his home, five miles from Dan- 
dridge, but was soon warned of death and danger, and 
Hed l)y night to seek shelter behind the Confederate 
lines then at Bristol, ninety miles distant. Allen, his 
negro man seivant, started with him and saw his old 
master safe on the road for twenty miles, and then 
returned to devote himself to the family who remained 
behind, and work on the farm. When his fidelity to 
them had brought upon Ins own head the violence 



400 HE.MINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

of the mob, he also had to conceal himself in the woods 
b}' dav and worked in the field by night, that tiiey 
mit'ht have bread for the comino- year I Not less devoted 
were the female servants, Hannah and Adeline. They 
stood by their master and the family, defending and 
protecting all to the last I Turnley was not a slave 
owner, ))roi)er, but had oidy these three family slaves 
l)y inheritance. 

These faithful negro slaves might furnish additional 
heroes and heroines for Uncle Tom's Cabin if JSirs. 
Stowe, the smutty noyelist, should for variety take a 
fancy^to subjects less sensual and less sensational than 
her '' Uncle Tom's Cabin."' 

Turnley's personal safety from the violenceof the mob 
was thus secured, but the rest and quiet, so essential to 
restoration of his health, was impossible. For nearly 
three months he roved over the hills of Western Yir- 
oinia. That section was filled with refugees like him- 
self, insomuch, that hotels and taverns were crowded, and 
it was with great difficulty one could obtain even a 
night's lodging in a farm house. Turnley lodged from 
house to house, as he best could, often sleeping in the 
woods with a log or a stump for a pillow. 

In his blindness and helplessness he lost his horse 
and soon after abandoned the few clothes he had taken 
with him. 

In February, 186Ir, while walking in his field in his 
shirt sleeves, on the opposite side of the river from his 
residence, he was surprised by a mob composed of one 
Wilson Shadden, as leader, and others, and carried to 
Knoxville, thirty-iive miles distant, in the night, where 
he was incarcerated in a large frame building, called 
the prison, then held by the Union forces, badly built 



KEMINISCEXCES FROM DIARY. 401 

and vei'y cold, while he had neither blanket nor warm 
woolen clothes. When arrested in his field he was 
crossed over the river in his own ferryboat and walked 
past his own door, but was not allowed to go in nor to 
receive even the overcoat one of his servants brouoht 
out to him. Added to this, he was almost blind ; for 
the exposure and hardships of the past few months 
had brought on granular inflammation of the eyelids. 

The horrors of solitude to an active mind like Turn- 
ley's, dwelling in painful darkness and chafing against 
restricted liberty, cannot be conceived bv one in pos- 
session of his unimpaired faculties, while he suffered 
almost torture with infiamed eyes. 

At this time the I'apidly accumulating prisoners at 
Knoxville (nearly all of whom were the oldest irien in 
their counties, ranging from seventy to ninety) were 
disposed of by sending them in detachments, on foot, 
across the Cumberland mountains through Kentucky, 
thence to Ohio, Alton, Johnson's Island, Rock Island, 
and other Northern prisons. Why this method was 
adopted, whether it was a " military necessity," or 
whether it was the mere invention of cruelt\^ cannot 
be stated, nor does it belong to the province of this 
narrative. 

It was a hard march for .young and able men, 
while for men old and infirm, as were most of those 
incarcerated at Knoxville, not one of them for any 
crime — save the crime of ))leading for j)eace, few under 
seventy and many past eighty years of age, it was 
simply death, in its most painful form ! 

Every morning the prisoners were called on parade 
outside of the prison, and the names of those destined 
for transfer announced, varying in number from one 

26 



402 REMINISCENCES FllO.M 1)1 All Y. 

to ten ; every day \vas the last parade for somebody. 
The doomed men wrunf^ the hands of their compan- 
ions in silence as they turned their backs upon home 
and hope. Few of them ever I'eturned. and East Tenii- 
nessee, thus bereft of her rod ami staff, thus deflowered 
of the best and wisest of her population, tottered and 
retro»'raded full fifty years in her civilization and so- 
cial condition. 

There is something inexpressibly painful in the im- 
pending stroke; in the I'eg'ular and certain fall of the 
ax that surely claims a victim at every blow^ and the 
sentence is almost a mercy that ]nits an end to dread. 
The sentence daily deferred, yet daily suffered by the 
two friends, fell at last on poor old man Stevens. He 
knew that it was his last trial — the crowning sacrifice 
of a pure antl lioly life, for he had been preach- 
ing the Gospel of Christ nigh on to sixty years. He 
turned with a (piick instinctive shudder to Turnley, 
now his constant companion — it was but for a mo- 
ment, a Hitting shadow of the flesh dimming, not ob- 
scuring, the grandeur of the soul, and again he was 
calm antl serene as the blue heavens that looked down 
and pitied him. In a few hours he was on his hai'd 
march toward the Cumberlaiul mountains, and four- 
teen days after — the same dav on which he reached 
Camp Division, Ohio — he died. 

Such was the end of Rev. Ilufus ]\r. Stevens, a num 
of peace, whose hand knew no art but that of liealing, 
whose tongue had no utterance but of admouition and 
blessing. 

Turnley was left in possession of Stevens' l)ed and 
such of his clothing as he was unable to carry with him, 
v>'hich Turnley, in turn, left with less fortunate prisoners, 
when some weeks after he was i-eleased from custodv. 



REMINISCENCES FRO.AI DIARY. 403 

Mrs. White, a resident of Knoxville, never deserted 
the charge committed to her by her venerable friend, 
Stevens ; siie had never seen Tnrnley, knew him only 
-as an old man, to the manor born, and one of the many 
sufferers of that nnliappy time ; yet. as long as he 
remained in prison, and even during " Longstreet s 
siege, "' when supplies were cut off and the pi-ovisions 
intliecity were seizetl by the military authorities and 
dealt out in half and (juarter rations to the citizens, Mrs. 
White's tray still came to Turnley's prison laden with 
such provisions and delicacies as she could obtain. 
Mrs. AVhite resided in Knoxville, during all those 
months of trial, and was the angel of mercy and help 
to the old men prisoners. 

In May, 1S64, after an imj)risonment of three 
months, Turnley. in company with inany others, was 
released. 

He returned to his home only to find the fury of 
the mob ten-fold increased. Most of those Avho were 
able to fly had done so, and of such as had no means of 
■escajie, or through desperate daring had chosen to 
remain, was furnished a human feast, sickening to 
think u))on. even with ten intervening years to cast a 
friendly shadow over the loathsome details. The 
howls of Jirownlow from the lair at Knoxville, rever- 
berated through the mountains, rolled up the valleys 
and died in guttural menaces in the caves of East Ten- 
nessee, and every ])eal brought in its hecatomb of 
victims ; it seemed that the wild beasts which pos- 
sessed the land two centuries before, had returned in 
human shape, and now held carnival upon their human 
enem V. The methods of torture were as varied and 
infamous as thev were cruel. 



404 kemini8Cencp:s from diary. 

Meanwhile three of liis dauohters had taken i'efii'2(^ 
in Madison, Indiana, as before narrated, and were 
making strenuous efforts to get the fatlier there also. 
Several agents had been dispatched to Knoxville, but 
all with like result — failure. The route from Knox- 
ville to Bristol, a distance of more than a hundred 
miles, being reported as too dangerous to attempt, 
Jinally the youngest daughter (my sister) Miss C. L. 
Turnley, proposed to undertake the journ«\v, tlnnking 
a woman acquainted with the country, might (juietly 
slip through unmolested, where a man would certainly 
fall a victim to one party or the other. 

I fully approved of her plans for the expedition. 
Setting out from Madison, July 1,5th, she proceeded 
to Knoxville, and thence, accompanied by her nej)hew, 
a lad of twelve years (wliose mother, a sister, 
still occupied her little farm on French-broad river, 
nine miles east of Dandridge), picked her way cau- 
tiously and slowly from point to point till she reached 
Bristol, August 8th. Failing to find any kind of shelter 
in Bristol, she continued her journey three miles into 
the country where she obtained lodging with a farmer, 
Mr. Blackley. 

It was the rumor that her father was somewhere in 
the vicinitv that brought her hither. lie, too, had 
heard of her approach, and the morning after her ar- 
rival he groped his way to Mr. Blackley's in search of 
her. Glad as he was, however, to see his daughter, and 
to bear from his other children and grandchildren, 
then concentrated at Madison, Indiana, he at first re- 
fused to go with his daughter to Madison, and it was 
with great difficulty this determination was overcome. 

The first work was to improvise a change of cloth- 



REMINISCENCES FUOM DIARY. 405 

)n<r for him, as he liad not been ch;ino;ed for nearly 
three months. A few yards of hickory cloth was 
found in Bristol at $80.00 per yard, enough to make a 
coat and ])air of [):uits. This was tlie price, of course 
in Confederate money — but the price in Federal green- 
backs was §15.00 j)er yard. An old tailoress (for tail- 
ors had all turned soldiers) was found to cut them, and 
Mrs. Blackley assisted Miss Turnley to sew them. 

A few white muslin skirts of Miss Turnley *s were 
transformed into shirts, and in twenty-four hours after 
iier arrival a complete change of clothing had been 
invented. 

After Turnley consented to return with his daugh- 
ter, other difficulties arose — the means of getting 
there. They were then over a hundred miles east from 
Knoxville. and could only await the approach of the 
two hostile armies, and following the Confederates to 
their nearest approach, pass hastily through to the Fed- 
eral lines. With either army was protection. Away 
fnmi both was danger or destruction. The\^ remained 
at Mr. JJlackley's several weeks, awaiting the move- 
ment of the two armies. At last. General Eckle 
(Confederate), advanced to Jonesl)oro, but finding a 
strong Federal force menacing him at liuH's Gap, and 
finding his own forces inferior in numbers, without 
arms, without organization (being largely made up of 
detachments and stragglers cut off from General 
Wheeler's comnumd). ordered a retreat. 

The citizens who had so long been exposed to the 
ravages of lawless foes, murmured ; the soldiers were 
sullen and dissatisfied; Eckle fell back to Jonesboro ; 
the people hoped he would at least stanti there, but 
contrary to all hopes and calculations, the retreat was 



406 liEMINISCENCES FROM 1)1 AKY. 

continued to the Watauir^i river, twelve miles l)eliiiul 
Jonesbofo. The soldiers, discontented with the officers, 
were almost mutinous, and in less than twelve hours 
after the retreat Eckle had been superseded by Mov 
iran, who, full of courage and enthusiasm, advanced. 

BulTs (ira}) was the supposed jihice of encounter. 
Morgan pushed his forces to Greenville, and how much 
coui'tige and determination might achieve against such 
heavy odds in numbers, arms and organization was 
soon to be tested. The betrayal, surpi'ise and murder 
of j\[organ in Greenville is a familiar story to every 
Tennesseean, lamented or condemned according to the 
political bias of tiie individual. AVhile the Confederate 
army, ignorant of the events of the night and early 
moi'ning. lay awaiting orders, General Gillem (Federal) 
attacked them fi'ont and flank. Colonels IJradford and 
Smith (Confederates) mancruvred to gain time, but 
still hearino- nothin<r from Morgan were at last forced 
to fight, and several hours of heavy skirmishing had 
taken place before they received the news of Morrjans 
death by betrayal and assassination at Greenville. It 
was now a retreat, which the greatest coolness and in- 
trepidity on the i)art of the officers coukl scarcely save 
from a rout. The disappointed and disheartened Con- 
federates fell back to Carter's Station, on or neai- the 
Watauga I'iver. General Gillem, declining to follow, 
returned to Bull's Ga]), and things were left pretty 
much as they had been for months past, save that Moi- 
gan was dead and the prestige of victory with the Fed- 
erals. Eckle's generalshi)) was vindicated, Init at heavy 
cost. While it is not intended to cast the shadow of 
disparagement upon the character of so bi'ave a nuin 
as ]\[organ, one who loved above all eai'thly things to 



KEMIXISC'KXCP:S FIUjM UlAlfV. 407 

defend home and lireside, yet one is forced to the opin- 
ion that it was well for the Confederate cause when ho 
liad ceased from his hibors and his blunders. It was 
also well for the Feilerals, because the violence of bush- 
whacking of like natures begat violence, and cessation 
of this kind of violence on eillier side was a I'elief and 
a blessing, no matter from what cause or motive. 

Turn lev had followed Kckle to Jonesboro, and was 
on the road to Greenville when the advance detach- 
ments of the retreat notified him of the change in 
plans, lie waited in the house of Kobert Campbell, 
Es(|., till Generals Kckle and Vaughn themselves came 
up, and with them I'eturned to Jonesboro, and re- 
mained through the confusion and panic that followed. 
Not many days after, Genei'al Williams, from the North 
Carolina division (Confederate), passed through, lie 
came to the assistance of Morgan, but arriving too 
late passed on down the French IJroad to Newport 
onlv eleven miles from Turnley's home, and he availed 
himself of this protection, and on reaching Newport 
rode on to his home without molestation. It was 
necessary, however, to secrete himself for a while fi'om 
the fiends and human hyenas of that neighborhood 
(some of whom were those who had taken him to 
Knoxville piison), till safe convoy to Knoxville could 
be procured. After some little delay all was arranged, 
and he proceeded to Knoxville, and thence to ]\Iadis(;n, 
Indiana, without further accident or hindrance, ami 
thus after nine years of separation from all save one of 
his children, lie was again I'cstored to the heart of his 
family. The disease by which he had become almost 
blind yiehleil to medical skill under Doctor Cogill, of 
Madison, but not till foi'ty days of most [)ainful treat- 



408 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

inent. For the two succeeding' years, my father re- 
mained ill that quiet retreat in Madison, Indiana, build- 
ing up his shattered iiealth, and watching ,vith deep 
and painful interest the ))rooress of the war, the evils 
and niagnitiule of \\ hich his son had clearly porti'ayed 
in his Dandridge a(Ulress 2r)th January, 1801, and re- 
peated at Greenville two days thereafter. It is a note- 
worthy fact that tlie writer's pi'ayer for harmony in 
his address at Greenville, January 2Sth, siiould l)e fol- 
lowed by betrayal and assassination by a citizen or 
female of that village! 

I have devoted more space than I intended to the 
imprisonment of my old father, but it seemed neces- 
sary, for a correct understanding of the matter, to pic- 
ture the real state of affairs in tliat unha])py section of 
counti'v at that time; no doubt similar conditions ex- 
isted in many other ])laces in the Southern States, but 
which I am not called U[)on to notice. But for a spirit 
of demoniacal violence, eastern Tennessee will always 
carry the pilm I I cannot thus pass over east Tenn- 
essee's shortcomings and cruelties! That was my birth- 
])lace and home till nineteen years of age, and was the 
home of my father, grandfather and great-grandfather 
from 1785. It becomes, therefore, mv duty to make a 
record of the diabolism of the time; also it becomes 
me to arraign General Ambrose E. I5urnside as a hea- 
then, outcast and a heartless ingratel Burnside was 
in command at Knoxville, and walked through the 
prison almost daily, and saw and knew that old man 
to ■ be the father of P. T. Turnley, of the Federal 
army — the same V. T. Turnley who had more than 
once helped and befriended the Cadet Burnside — yet he 
coldly and !nh(tnianlij permitted my father (j)ast three- 



HE.MINLSOENCES FROM 1)1 AKV. 409 

^core and ten) to ]in<jer in that prison, almost naked, 
nearly blind, and sufferin*^ for the kind of food his great 
age and lack of teeth required he should have. Burn- 
side knew that I, like himself, was in the Union armv, 
but in a distant part of the country — he knew I had 
saved him, while a cadet, from discovery, drunk and 
dismissal. Xothing short of a brute couUl have thus 
treated my o!d father I 

However, these things constitute the Ixwharhui of 
war — and we only discover the harharian. when events 
i)ring the opportunity to act I I ruled Burnside out of 
■mv books from that time on I He failed as a general, 
most ingloriously, on every tried field of battle I He 
\s;\.% i\n ignoramu)< \\\ politics; but his wife's money, 
and his own pusillanimous tlunkeyism, jnit him 
into a {;orru|)t and debauched Senate of the United 
States, where he was lost to sight — and where for the 
balance of his life he assiduously cultivated all there 
^vei" was of i)im. to-wit, his mJiiskerfi .' 



CHAPTER XVII. 

I spent the I'est of 180-f at home in Chicago, and in 
looking after my private affairs and pi'oviding for 
others dependent solely on me. Early in 18(55 J went 
to Washington to see how the final settlement of my 
public accounts was progressing ; and called at the 
ipuirtermaster-general's office. General Meigs was 
absent, but General Charles Thomas, the assistant 
quartermaster-general, was acting in his place, and as 
soon as he saw me he expressed a desire that 1 would 
consent to take active service again for aspecial duty in 



410 llEMINISCENCES FROM DIxVllY. 

Denver, Colorado. Being a retired officer, I was not 
subject to detail or orders, and only on my voluntary" 
action could I be assigned. The case was peculiar — 
exceptional, and not supposed to involve very great 
labor, or to be of long duration. Denver was in what 
WHS called '• The District of the Phiins,'' and was the 
headquarters of the trooj)s in that frontier during the- 
war. All sorts of irregularities had been practiced in 
the expenditures of the quartermaster's department for 
supplies of forage, fuel, transportation, etc.. etc. Corn 
had been ])rocured at twelve to eighteen dollars the- 
busliel ! Hay had been cut up on the prairies for 
enornuHis prices, sometimes foi-ty to sixty dollars per 
ton, stacked within a mile of where it was cut ! Fuel 
(wood) had been charged for delivered to troops 
ouardino- stawe stations ;ilong the South Platte, from 
one to two hundred miles east from Denver, at as high 
as $100 the cord I And correspondingly'^ high prices 
for many things I These prices had been allowed by 
the volunteer officers stationed in that region of the 
country, and vouchers made and certified to for the 
same, but not paid, leaving their payment to be made 
in Washington by the quartermaster-general on his 
approval. The quartermaster-general had examined some 
of these vouchers and refused to pay them, in fact, consid- 
ered many to be fraud. IJence, it was urged that I go to 
Denver, establish an office and overhaul all these matters^ 
correct abuses, and fix what ought to be a ])roper ])rice 
for these supplies. After consideration 1 agreed to go^ 
and came to Chicago to arrange matters and report 
mv readiness. St. Louis was the })oint 1 would start 
from, so I went there, reported myself ready, and in 
due time received mv instructions. I concluded to 



IIEMIXISCENCKS FKu.M DIAIJY. 411 

take inv wife and two little girls with me, 
although it was rather a hazardous veutui'e, because 
the previous autumn and winter many of the 
overhmd stage stations between Fort Leavenw(;rth 
and Denver had been broken up and l)uined by 
liostile Indums, and the Indians were still a terror to 
overland travel. However, I had j)iissed too much of my 
army life on the frontiers among the Indians to feel much 
doubt about uiy being able to take care of myself and 
famil\' on a trip of five hundred miles with any reason- 
able escort. I therefore took a steamer at St. Louis for 
Leavenworth, with my horses, mules ami wagons on 
board, together with a clei'k and teamsters, so as not to 
have delay at Leavenworth. We made slow progi-ess 
up the river, and it was somewhere about Lexington, 
Missouri, that we got news of President Lincoln's^ 
assassination I When we arrived at Leavenworth I 
met a telegram stating my wife's father, in CMiicago, 
had died the day after Lincoln's death, of apoplexy — 
attributed to his excitement on learning of Lincoln's 
tragic death. This upset us great! v, and we wished 
that we were all back at Chicago However, we I'ested 
a few davs. and I imi)roved the time to get mv baiiiiao© 
wagons and ambulance, and my wife's private carriage, 
which had been sent also tVom Chicago by i-ail. in 
readiness; and eetting a proper escort of ten men, 
which, with mv armed teamsters, I considered ample 
security for the trip. About the 20th of April we set 
out for the long march to Denver, over five hundi-ed 
miles. I had procured acoupleof Canadian ponies fcfl' my 
two little girls (Emma and Mamie, ten and seven years- 
of age, res])ectively), with little boys" s;uldles to ride 
astride. We had thechiUlren dressed in Zouave panls^ 



412' reminiscencp:s from diary. 

for comfort and convenience so they could ride the })onies 
*' a la boy." This thev did all the way to Denver — 
five hundred miles. 1 traveled at the rate of eighteen 
to twenty five miles per (hiy, according to grass, water, 
fuel, etc., pitching our tents at night, and sleeping on 
our blankets spread on the dry grass; or if wet, we 
spread down our India rubbers first. We heard of 
Indians often, but never saw any, though a stage sta- 
tion was burned tlie next day after we had passed it, 
showing the pi'oximity of Indians on our trail. No 
doubt they knew all my movements, and saw how vig- 
ilant we were both day and night, and no doubt 
thought it too hazardous for them to attack us. In 
twenty-tliree days' travel we I'eached Denver, all in 
■excellent health, and I jiroceeded to relieve, the officer 
tiiere on duty. Captain C. L. (lorton, and to get into 
the harness of official woi-k. Of course, the tragic 
death of Lincoln just at the close of a four years' ter- 
rific v,ar. in which two million men were under arms, 
and twenty-five millions of people exulting with joy, 
and half as many more depressed with defeat and 
ruined homes, left little room for interest in other mat- 
ters in the War De])artment or about the frontiers, or 
the Indians. The occasion was favorable for the sixty - 
-eiiiht major-i'-enerais and the two hundred and seventy 
bi'io-adier-oenerals to hustle around for new commands 
somewhere on earth for a service that would secure 
them their salaries. One of these, Mr. Patiick K. 
Connor, was in Utah when the war closed, and very 
soon" he made his a])pearance in Denver, with his staff, 
of course; and I, being only a poor, insignificant cap- 
tain, was subject to his orders, especially as he brought 
a quartermaster with him who coveted the ])ost of 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 41P. 

Denver. I was soon inl'oi'nied that I would be relieved 
and assigned to duty with a column of troojis to fdhc 
the tichl for (lit Iiidhiii scoiif. Captain Royal L. West- 
brook was the one General Connor ordered to relieve 
me. This was not what I had expected, nor the spirit 
of my orders. I had repaired and re-established the 
telegraph communications from Denver to Fort Leaven- 
worth, so that I could communicate readily therewith, 
and I at once telegraphed the chief quartermastei- at 
Leavenworth, and also General Pope at St. Louis (who 
was, in fact, the chief in command of all the frontiers), 
protesting against the change. Without going into 
details, it is enough to say that I prevented being dis- 
placed by Connor's order, and remained at the post to 
do the work I had been specially sent thei'e to do, 
while also carrying on all current duties required in 
the district of the plains. General Connor was fitted 
out with the necessary teams for his Indian scout, and 
soon left, taking his quartermaster with him, and I 
was left to mv duties unmolested. I soon beffan to 
overhaul those extraordinary accounts, and after duly 
cutting down the extravagant prices to a reasonable 
and proper figure, they were ready to deliver to 
their proper owners, or to go to Washington, 
St. Louis, or Fort Leavenworth for payment. 1 
had authority, however, to pav such as I might 
have funds sufficient to li(}uidate, and I managed 
to pay most of the smaller vouchers, and thus save the 
time and trouble of transmitting small accounts so far. 
My health had much improved during the latter part 
of 1804, and when I accepted this service I really felt 
able to perform it though by no means robust. Mv 
weight had increased fro?u 127 to 145 pounds and I had 



414 11EMIN1SCENCE8 FROM DIARY. 

a reasonable ajipetite, and slept fairly well at nigiit 
until in August; I then began to feel the same electrical 
influence of that mountain climate which had so nerv- 
ously prostrated me during the years '58-0 and '6() in 
Utah, but which my sojourn near the sea coast and on 
salt water had greatly relieved. A[\' appetite began to 
fail me, my inability to sleep soon began to destroy my 
strength and energ\\ At this time, a sore near the root of 
my tongue began to grow into a boil, and became a small 
carbuncle, which I nursed, bul continued at duty suffer- 
ing in silence tne inexpressible |)ain no mortal need care 
to experience. AVhen it was fairly on the wane I felt 
a sore coming on the back of my neck just behind the 
left ear. It grew into a fine large carbuncle. I was 
now in as bad a condition as I cared to be, weak and 
•<lebiiitated, with no ap]ietite for food, and very little 
assimilation of what I did eat, unable to sleep, and 
nervous beyond description. The ordinary term -'ner- 
vous prostration," falls short of expressing mycondition, 
so I applied to be relieved but got no answer. T then 
used the telegraph for the same purpose, to Leaven- 
worth, St. Louis and Washington — but could get no 
reply ; and I finally' forwarded my resignation. I 
received no reply to this up to September 26th when 
Major General G. M. Dodge came into the post from an 
Indian scout, and I determined to avail myself of the 
privilege of an "immediate and unconditional''' clause 
in a tender of resignation, which allowed the immediate 
commanding general to grant at once a leave of absence, 
wliile action was being taken on the resignation at 
Washington. General Dodge intlorsed and inclosed my 
tender of resignation and recommended a leave at once. 
I went to work closing up my business so as to leave, 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. . 415 

when I received a re]:)ly from Washington dated Nov, 
SO, 1865, tliat my resignation would be accepted to 
take effect 31st of December, 1865, but notliino- said 
ai>out a leave. I closed up, however, and turned over the 
<iepartment to Captain Bean, who had come from Fort 
Halleck (250 nnles west of Denver) for the purpose of 
relieving me. This enabled me to pack up and get ready 
for a 500 mile travel in mid-winter to Atchison. Mv 
wife and children were, of course, to come with me. 
The stage line had been re-established and was running 
tri-weekly from Denver to Atchison; but it was crowded 
full every trip, and very uncomfortable as well as 
expensive. I had my private aml)ulance put in the 
most comfortable order, and like the omnibus in style, 
having windows put in, a seat on either side the full 
length of the bed, and wide enough to lie on and sleep. 
if desired, and also rear steps. I had a small 
stove made out of a large camp kettle with a 
small smoke pipe three inches in diameter going 
up through the center of the roof, and hooks by 
which I could swing or suspend the little stove, and 
thus protect the same from tiie irregular motion of the 
wagon. A couple of sacks filled with charcoal, tied on 
the axles underneath, a lantern and a lamp, matches, 
hatchet, monkey-wrench and our robes and blankets, 
with a couple of i)illows, lixed us out with a fair pros- 
pect of comfort. The snow was then afoot deep all 
over the country, even to Leavenworth, and the tem- 
perature below 20*^. The stage stations were twenty 
miles apart, and the question was, as to my mules be- 
ing able to travel daily that long distance, witii any- 
thing like speed. We certainly did not want to crawl 
jver the prairie at the rate of onlv fifteen or twentv 



410 KE.^rrNISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

miles a day. in such cold weather. !I therefore inler^ 
viewed the stage aoent at Denver and })ro]iosed to hitn 
to carry the mail on my ambulance to Atchison, if he 
would allow r<'hnjs of sfayr lutrscx from the different 
stage stations to pull my iimbulance. The agent was 
fullv willing to do this, for I hatl done many things to 
accommodate the stage line interest at that post, and 
thisarrangement wouldcarry my ambulance at stage rate 
travel to Atchison, which meant at about live miles an 
hour. In this manner we whirled out of Denver the 
18th of December, 1865. Our experiences on the way 
were full of interest and sometimes alarming. One 
evening, five miles west of Julesburgh, on the South 
Platte, we broke a wheel, and had to limp into the 
station on foot, in darkness and freezing cold, and have 
the wheelwright employed at the military post work 
all night to mend it. Moving on next day and part of 
the night, we passed another military post, and replen- 
ished our charcoal ; then while traveling at night along 
the south side of the Platte river in the snow, we lost 
our road, some ten miles before reaching Fort Kear- 
ney. It was near midnight, bitter cold — 10" below 
zero — and the driver had to stop and take his lantern, 
on foot to search for the road — full an hour — but at 
last we found the trail and got into Kearney Station 
3 o'clock in the morning. We could only find space 
to spread our blankets on the floor in the cold room ; 
but we felt thankful for even that. The next morning 
we found it 22*^ below zero ; and the stage driver who 
was to drive our ambulance, was slow to face the frosty 
air ; so we got a cup of black coffee and got off about 
10 A. M. That day we traveled slowly and only 
passed two stations. It continued cold, and the snow 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 41T 

was clee|3er as we came east though the greater travel 
kept it better packed down. The next da}^ it was still 
16° below with a keen wind blowing. The second day 
after leaving Kearney we got a very bad driver from 
that station ; impudent, reckless and dissipated. He- 
pretended to feel himself insulted or scandalized, at 
having to drive a team bitched to a lyrivate 
conveyance^ but I explained to him who I was,, 
and the reason whv I was thus using- the stage 
company's relays of horses and drivers, and that I 
was carrying the regular United States mail. It made 
no impression on him whatever, and he drove in the 
most reckless manner ; had my carriage not been of 
the strongest make it would have broken down right, 
on the snow coveredj'bleak prairie, far from assistance,. 
and jeopardized the lives of us all in the intense cold ? 
To control this as well as I could, I took a seat with • 
him in front, which in no wise calmed his brutal tem- 
per. He was evidently one of these frontier despera- 
does who had left civilization for a cause, and floated 
out to the lawless regions of the frontier where he could 
pass incog, while gaining a living driving a stage, 
until a favorable opportunit}' offered to become, per- 
haps, a highwayman ! My twenty years' experience 
with frontier characters enabled me to measure him 
pretty well, and I made up my mind that we were not 
safe in his hands, and at the first station I would get 
rid of him by some means. "We reached the next sta- 
tion at 2 p. M. where Ave had to change horses. A 
small detachment of volunteer soldiers stationed there 
gave protection from the Indians, though not having 
anything to do with the stage company's affairs further- 
than to protect the place. As soon as we drove up- 



418 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

near the stables I jumped off and sought the officer in 
command ; he proved to be onl}'' a sergeant, but a sen- 
sible, intelligent man ; and I related to him who I was 
and how I was traveling with my wife and children, 
told him what kind of a driver I had taken on at a 
previous station. The sergeant knew the fellow from 
reputation, and quite agreed with me that he was not 
the man to have on this occasion. I then asked him 
if he could not get me a man at least to the next sta- 
tion, where drivers w^ere to be changed. He said one 
of his squad of soldiers' time would be out in a week, 
and he already had a furlough till that time but was 
waiting the arrival of some more of the same company 
to join them when all would proceed to Leavenworth, 
for final discharge — that he was a good man (from 
Iowa, I think) and if he was willing to go, and I could 
wait till he could get ready, he would willingly let him 
o'o. In five minutes I was face to face with the soldier 
and told him what I wanted ; he only hesitated because 
he had not a cent of money and would not have till 
mustered out and paid off ; and if he went with me, 
would find himself at Atchison with no monev. I saw 
the point, and not caring to count dollars just then, 
situated as I was with wife and cliildren on a perilous 
trip, I told him if he could get ready in half an hour 
and be on the driver's seat before the other fellow got 
through his drinking at the stable, and would stick to 
me to the Missouri river, I would give him one hun- 
dred dollars ! This opened his eyes as large as 
saucers and his assent to it came just as soon as he 
could recover his amazement. The sergeant heard 
it all, and helped the man to get together his gun, 
box and blankets, which were soon on the front 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 419 

seat. The stable men (as was their business) had 
already hitched the fresh horses (while the old 
driver was warming himself and swallowing- bad 
whisky, which was to be had at every station). Just 
as soon as the soldier driver mounted the box I was 
by his side. "We drove off at a full sweeping trot and 
were more than a hundred j^ards on the road before the 
half drunken driver knew it. He came staggering out 
and hollowing at the top of his voice to stop, but we 
only drove the faster. And that was the last I ever 
saw of that driver. We reached a pretty fair and com- 
fortable station that night at tiark, and there rested 
till the next morning, when we continued on, finding 
the roads much better, the snow being settled and firm 
from the travel over it. Meanwhile, our previous day's 
fast driving, and the roughness of the road, had well 
nigh used up one of the wheels of ray ambulance, and 
by three o'clock that afternoon it was ready to drop 
down. In fact it did break down, in the middle of the 
road, about five miles before we reached the Big Sandy 
Creek. We took out the horses and sent the driver on 
them forward to the station to procure a vehicle, and 
means to draw our broken one to the station. Leaving 
our heavy luggage in the ambulance, but taking our 
small valuables in our arms, we walked to the next sta- 
tion before dark. On our way we met our driver com- 
ing back with means to bring all up, which he did al- 
most as soon as we arrived. We found at this station a 
German family by whom we were most kindrv tared for. 
The women of the family became much interested with 
Emma and Mamie, our two little girls, and the children 
sang several little songs which amused them greatly. 
One, especially, called "'Johnny Smoker,'' attracted 



420 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

them. They went into ecstacies over it and had it 
repeated several times. The German man of the house 
was a blacksmith and wheelwright and the very man 
to mend my ambulance wlieel; but it was Saturday 
night and the following day Sunday ; yet I wanted 
the work done right away, as if no Sunday existed. 
The man hesitated a little, but finally went at it, and 
the next day it was finished. After thanking him 
and paying our bills, we resumed our journey. If I 
remember rightly this Sunday at the Big Sandy was 
Christmas day, 1865, and the sixth day out from Den- 
ver. Our calculations of five miles an hour, and to 
run night and day, was a dream not to be realized at 
that season of the year, and especially at that time 
when a foot of snow^ covered mother earth nearlv the 
whole way. Several days and nights it was 20° below 
zero, and we thought we were doing remarkably well 
under all circumstances. From the Big Sandy we struck 
rougher roads, and, in a few days, a "■ January thaw " 
had begun so that roads were heavy and we were 
compelled to travel still slower, but had no mis- 
haps at all. We reached Atchison about the 29th of 
December where we rested over night. Depositing 
rny ambulance with the stage company's agent there, 
we took the cars the next morning to St. Joseph, Mis- 
souri, and went to the house of Leander Black, who 
had prepared a sumptuous dinner for us, and we met, 
for the first time, his wife and family. We had an 
ao-reeable time till the hour arrived to take the ni^ht 
train to Chicago. Mr, Black had a fine carriage and a 
splendid span of horses, and took us from his home to 
the station in St. Joseph, and showed us all possible 
attention. From St. Joseph to Chicago in those days 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 421 

meant from eighteen to twenty-four hours on the cars, 
and we arrived in Chicago about dark, the closing 
hours of the year 1865, and went to Mrs. E. T. But- 
ter's house, on Superior street, Chicago. We had left 
her the previous 15th of March living at 119 Wabash 
avenue. Doctor Rutter had died there the 15th of 
April, and she had changed her residence to Superior 
street in the meantime. Mrs. Eutter's three sons were 
with her, and her other daughter, and when my wife 
arrived it made her entire family of children once 
more all together under the maternal roof. Her in- 
valid sister, Mariell, was also with her, while my two 
little girls and myself made a pretty large family (ten) 
for a small house. We all rested, and soon regained 
our usual habits of sleeping, eating and daily duties. 
The 12th of February. 1866, leaving wife and children 
at Mrs. Rutter's, I went to St. Louis, to complete clos- 
ing up my public business, and on the 1st of March my 
wife joined me there, and we procured a house on 
Washington avenue, and prepared to go to house- 
keeping. 

Very soon the children joined us, and we lived 
quietly there until September, 1867. During the latter 
part of 1866 and the spring of 1867, I suffered with 
continued carbuncles, having four of the worst ones on 
my neck. I began to think that carbuncles would be 
my death. I suffered, also, greatly with ulcerated 
molar teeth, apparently the best teeth I had, but I had 
to have them taken out — and to one who has never 
had a good, square, well-rooted molar drawn, at the 
same time having a full-grown carbuncle on his neck, 
I will just suggest that he prepare himself to say his 
prayers in a .secluded closet with becoming rever- 



422 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

ence and resignation ! I sat on my chair, or half re- 
clined on bed or sofa, with my head drooping forward, 
for nearly two months, with constant recurrence of 
these infernal inflammatory gangrenous ulcers ! Just 
so soon as one was lanced and began to subside, a sore 
spot would manifest itself only a little distance from 
it, and in a few days unmistakable signs appeared of 
another of the pests on the way ! It required about the 
same period of time for each to sprout, grow, mature 
and then subside I I did not follow Job's wife's ad- 
vice, " curse God and die," because it all came about 
on account of my impoverished blood, and not by 
God's decree! Besides, I am not one of those who be- 
lieve Deity meddles with such details ! I was full of 
poison, which had been gradually accumulating in ray 
svstem for more than seven years, and my stay on or 
near the salt water had only started a change of sys- 
tem, which, had I remained on the sea, would no doubt 
have worked me out of the condition. 

But my going back to the uncongenial, electrical at- 
mosphere of the Rocky mountains spread this poison 
in my system afresh. I found in St. Louis about as 
uncongenial atmosphere as I had ever tried to live in, 
and after I was able to travel I spent the summer 
away from there, and concluded to purchase a resi- 
dence in Chicago and make that mv home. Accord- 
ingly, in September, 1867, wife and self looked around 
for a place and finally purchased 584 and 586 Wabash 
avenue, and speedily removed our household effects 
from St. Louis to it, where we were soon quietly at 
home. During ray long siege with the carbuncles, in 
St. Louis, Dr. Johnston (a son-in-law of the then mil- 
lionair James Lucas) attended me and prescribed for 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 423 

my weak, emaciated condition, good whisky or wines. 
I had lived almost on calisaya drinks for months, with 
no benefit, so I first tried rye whisky, but tired of it 
very soon ; then I tried sherry and Madeira wines, but 
soon found it difficult to get them down, so repugnant 
did the flavor become to my taste and smell. Then I 
tried Ike Cook's Imperial Catawba, which I liked better, 
and drank freely of it for a month, but tired of it also. 
I sent to Kentucky for some good old Bourbon, which 
finally arrived. A five-gallon keg costing me then 
(1867) just $55.00, or $11.00 the gallon. This was just 
after the close of the war when everything had war 
prices, besides the Government tax on whisky was 
enormous, and then the article I had received was the 
best and the oldest I could find, and was in every re- 
spect such as one would ordinarily pay $2.00 or $2.50 
per gallon for, in 1850. The house I got it from in Ken- 
tucky declared it was fifteen years old, and it cost 
enough to be three-score and ten. I was not disposed 
to grumble at $10.00 a gal. for the best. I began using 
this about September, 1867, and at that time I weighed 
137 pounds. I did not have very much appetite, 
though I ate sufficient to keep me about. 1 slept about 
four hours of the twenty-four and could not even coax 
myself to sleep any more. At first I took a half gill of 
the old Bourbon before sitting down to breakfast, but 
soon quit it, not feeling well after it ; then I took the 
same quantity just before sitting down to dinner and 
found it worked well, it gave me an appetite and 
seemed to help assimilation of food and to favor di- 
gestion. After a while I again tried the half gill 
before breakfast, and finding it worked well, kept it 
up. This made a gill a day. I soon added another half 



424 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

gill before supper, which also worked well; and then 
one on going to bed, making now two gills per day, 
and it seemed to give me increasing strength, com- 
fortable sleep at night and a good digestion and in 
one month I had gained six pounds in weight. I then 
began taking a gill at about 10 a. m. another at 12 m. 
and one at 3 p. m. and another one during the even- 
ing, thus making nearly a quart each day. Yet, 
strange to say, I never felt the least intoxicating effect 
from it, but ate with the greatest appetite, digested 
my food perfectly, and slept as sound as anyone 
•could from the time I went to bed till daylight. 
Meantime, I had in four months increased in 
weight to 159 pounds, and in every way felt 
strong; and active, but no effects at all from the 
great amount of bourbon. So I kept it up during 1868 
and 1869 when I weighed 181 pounds. 1 then began 
for the first time to feel the effects of the whisky ; 
while not intoxicated by it, yet I felt indifferent, my 
head was not " level " as they say — I was forgetful of 
things to be done, etc. In fine, I was then swallowing 
more whisky than the diminished poisons in my 
system could neutralize. So long as the poisons in my 
system would absorb, or in turn be absorbed by the 
whisky, I was the gainer, and felt no ill effects 
but Avhen the poisons had been eliminated by the 
alcohol, then the latter became detrimental to me 
both physically and mentally ; hence, this was the 
time to swear off and keep sworn off. I did this meas- 
urably well, but for the information and guidance of 
others I will state that any person who has been in 
the habit of drinking freely of liquor, say a quart per 
day, or even a pint, and desires to quit it, or to dimin- 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 425 

jsh the amount, there is only one way to do it, and 
that is to quit entirel}'', at once, in toto — not little by 
little, but all at once and not touch one drop for at 
least one year or more. No man ever yet quit drink- 
ing gradually. Totalism is the truest ism for sobriety 
that words ever coined into expression ; and the only 
moderate drinking that a man who has been a free 
drinker can possibly permit, is total abstinence, 
otherwise he will continue his free and liberal drink- 
ing. (So much have I to say on the temperance ques- 
tion, for which I make- no charge.) 

I have been requested by many personal friends to 
give my individual opinion in regard to the relative 
efficiency and generalship of some leading commanders 
in Federal and Confederate armies, more especially of 
regular officers and graduates of West Point with 
whom I have long been acquainted. I find many 
entries in my note books on this point made between 
June, 1861, and January, 1866. Heretofore I have 
thought it injudicious to do so. On reflection, how- 
ever, I can see no impropriety in at least recording my 
personal opinion in my memoirs, for Avhatever value 
such opinion may be to others ; nor do I think any 
apology necessary for expressing my own opinion of 
officers holding conspicuous public positions, whose 
actions I watched with impartiality, and with whom I 
had many years of personal acquaintance, and with 
many of them, friendly, social relations. Nothing has 
occurred since the late war closed to change opinions 
I formed during the conflict as to those conspicuous in 
command. 

General Irving McJ^owell was the first actor on the 
field, and the first failure, in July, 1861, at the first 



426 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

Bull Kun. McDowell was a graduate of 1838, a native 
of the State of Ohio ; was a scholarly, polite and affa- 
ble gentlemen, ambitious, of course. He had been 
through the Mexican war as a staff officer with Gen- 
eral John E. Wool. He was mustering officer (of vol- 
unteers) in Washington City in the summer of 1861, 
and when the public clamor became strong for a for- 
ward move on Richmond, McDowell was promoted to 
a brigadier-general by influence of Salmon Chase, also 
an Ohio man (one of President Lincoln's cabinet). 
McDowell at once set about organizing an army of 
volunteers. Having collected twenty-eight to thirty 
thousand men by the middle of July, he was ready to 
march against the Confederate forces then assembled 
in the region of Bull Run. The Confederates were also 
green volunteers, and commanded by the Confederate 
General P. G. T. Beauregard, who, by the way, was 
McDowell's class-mate at AVest Point. So far as disci- 
pline, drill and service were concerned, the Federal and 
Confederate volunteers in the battle were entirely sim- 
ilar and equal as to military experience, or rather, 
lack of experience. Of course, the Confederates had 
selected the battle ground, but had only nine tliousand 
in force to McDowell's thirty thousand. The engage- 
ment began July 21st and waxed hot all the forenoon, 
when fresh Confederate troops arrived and won the 
battle. McDowell lost that first battle because he 
failed to have one or more of his four divisions (of 
seven thousand men each) ready at the proper time to 
re-inforce his divisions previously engaged, a thing 
Beauregard and Johnston were vigilant to do. This 
was the secret of McDowell's failure at that time. A 
like defect in his career as a commander was visible in 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIA.RY. 427 

his course ever after. He was never designed or des- 
tined to be a successful general on bloody fields of bat- 
tle, albeit he was without a peer on a peaceful parade 
where bright bayonets and a cap-a-pie display of gold 
lace was the eno^agement. McDowell was heavv and 
formal in mind and body ; was a high liver, a proud, 
ambitious man, and was dominated by a spirit of great 
dignity. He was a failure at the beginning, and no 
less so at the ending, but, all the while, among personal 
friends and in social society, an agreeable gentleman 
and a scholar. 

The next on the theatre was George B. McClellan, 
who had been made major-general to rank next to the 
venerable and distinguished Scott. His commission as 
major-general was the same date as McDowell's to a 
brigadier (May 14, 1861). He graduated second in 
the class of 1846, was the youngest cadet in the class j 
in fact he lacked several months of being sixteen (the 
required minimum age by law when he entered the 
Academy, June, 1842). He had been pushed the pre- 
vious years in private schools over most of the West 
Point course of education, expressl}^ to enable him to 
graduate head of his class, but he was second at the 
graduation. He served creditably under Lee and 
Beauregard as an engineer in the Mexican war, and 
after that on several pieces of engineer w^ork — more of 
a civil than a military nature. He was sent as one of 
the military commissioners to the seat of war in 
Europe, in 1855, especially to gather information on 
military organizations on a large scale, resigned from 
the army in 1857, and became chief engineer of the 
Illinois Centra] Railroad. He was president of the 
Cincinnati & Ohio Railwav when called ao^ain into 



428 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

service, April, 1861, and was placed on the array ros- 
ter, as before stated, next to the distinguished General 
Scott. This was a most responsible position for one 
not yet thirty-five years of age. It placed him over 
many old officers of long and distinguished^service, and 
who were in the United States army before McClellan 
was born! This naturally excited surprise and criti- 
cism in older heads, while it tended to turn McClellan's 
head into realms imaginary, and visions of superiority 
non-existent! No wonder the administration which 
had perpetrated this strange error of placing at the head 
of the largest army known in modern warfare and his- 
tory a man soyouthfid and untried, became anxious to 
undo it ! Political freaks are apt to essay strange things, 
by strange methods of government, more especially 
in a government assumed to be based on vox populi! 
Under the circumstances, it is not to be wondered that 
the administration should seek opportunities to remove 
McClellan, and, when no good reason was found, then 
to create one! This, in fact, was done. McClellan 
was very far from being a great man or a strong man, 
yet he was superior to the political cabal in Washing- 
ton City, who made him the victim of their political 
machinations. McClellan was industrious, vigilant and 
energetic; but, of course, he was vain and aspiring. He 
was not a social man, nor one who sought or permitted 
intimacy. His strongest characteristic was exclusive- 
ness. If I except his father-in-law (General R. B. 
Marcey), I doubt if he had among all his able and 
older commanders one intimate, confiding friend. 
Greater was the pity and misfortune for McClellan, 
because, when his day of trial came, not one sympa- 
thized with him or cared, to help him. In fact, his char- 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 429 

acter and predilections as a man rather invited his ene- 
mies to undo him. McClellan was not in touch with 
simple republican-democratic methods, manners or 
associations of his country. Few men of American 
lineage, whose birth, education and associations had 
been of democratic environments, were more undemo- 
cratic^ or, I will say, Jess democratic, than George B. 
McClellan. He was an aristocrat of the imperial, 
monarchial type, by nature and instinct. His most 
congenial and coveted companions and confidants Avere 
those worthless and graceless scions of effete titled 
vagabonds of European dynasties. McClellan was a 
good organizer (as well he might be, from his observa- 
tion of large armies in Europe). He was a reliable and 
competent engineer, a safe and cautious commander 
(all too cautious for a great captain) ; he was moral, 
temperate and honest, but he lacked the elements of a 
great commander of soldiers on bloody fields. McClel- 
lan lacked fearfully and fatally the courage of his own 
judgment. He cowered before as vile, not to say, 
treasonable cabal of political demagogues as the cen- 
tury produced during that conflict. McClellan should 
have realized the fact that he, and not a 2x>liticcd ccd>al 
in Washington, commanded the army, and that that 
army was all that could secure what it was created 
for, when commanded htj only one chief head. McClel- 
lan was energetic and active in almost every line of 
operations in fair weather and calm sailing, but when 
aggressive work was required, when to lead became a 
duty instead of following, when the hour to assume 
responsibility and action came, then McClellan was a 
cripple, almost a cipher, not from physical cowardice, 
but from moral fear and distrust of himself. At such 



430 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

times, his halting and faltering courage was in sympa- 
thy for others and not fear for himself. In other 
words, McClellan desired always to save his soldiers, 
and for that very reason was too much of a woman 
ever to become a great general. Of course, it is a 
crowning virtue in generalship to save the soldier 
when possible, but there comes a time when the die 
must be cast, and the deadly conflict begin. This hour 
of onslaught, wisely and opportunely chosen, comprises 
high elements of generalship, and exhausts a general's 
duties in the line of saving his soldiers, each one of 
whom now faces his duties of enlistment and shares 
responsibilities. For a general to hesitate and falter 
at this hour is to lose all. McClellan failed not once, 
but three times, to attack his enemy at the proper 
time, which nothing could palliate or retrieve. 

But these failures were not all his own fault. 
Nothing was plainer to the dispassionate looker-on 
than that the cabal at Washington did not mean 
McClellan should go to Richmond. Nothing is ever 
gained by witholding the truth as relates to public 
acts, or to official character, least of all when one has 
none other than honest motives, to speak of those 
whose character one has closely studied. McClellan 
had few faults and many virtues. He never used 
tobacco nor liquors, nor used profane language, but the 
elements of a great military captain could not be 
found in his make-up, simply because God did not so 
endow him. Added to his weaknesses was his fear of 
a lot of political rascals. My respected class-mate 
(who was five years my junior in age when we were 
cadets together) has long since retired from public 
service, and while I have spoken only the truth, as I 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 431 

understand it, I can not feel that I have been harsh or 
unduly critical. 

John Pope next figured on nearly the same theatre 
where McDowell had exploited imcompetency. I may 
as well say here, before I forget it, that Pope and Mc- 
Dowell, while differing greatly in some personalities, 
yet .were much alike in conducting their military oper- 
ations, and truth compels me to say that I do not think 
either of them had ever been good Sunday-school pupils, 
or else their teachers failed greatly to impress on their 
young minds the Ninth Commandment. McDowell was 
by far the more magnanimous and just however, for he 
did, on one occasion, like a good fellow, frankl}^ and 
publicly assume all responsibility of his Bull Pun failure ; 
while Pope meanly, cowardly, even vengefuUy, left no 
stone unturned to cast the responsibility and odium of 
his failure on innocent men I Pope's prosecution, and 
persecution, of Fitz-John Porter, on what he knew to be 
false assumptions, fals» charges and garbled facts, forms 
an episode in the late military operations in Virginia 
without precedent ; and shows a lamentable lack of 
manly courage and consistency in General Pope as a 
commander and as a man. 1 knew both men as cadets, 
lieutenants, and field officers. I was a quiet looker-on 
at what passed, free from prejudice, partialitv or favor, 
and my opinion has never changed from the conviction 
that John Pope was cruelly, and wickedl}^ wrono- in 
his malignant persecution of Porter. Porter was 
vastly superior to Pope as an officer, soldier and com- 
mander. I wondered at the time that disputation was 
going on why Porter did not rally his friends and 
crush Pope for his falsehoods and garbled reports ! At 
a later day, however, I learned the main reason was 



432 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

that Pope Wilt first in the field, to secure political hack- 
ing, and that, in fact. Porter was condemned before he 
was tried, and before any of the true facts of his case 
had been presented. Even long after these facts were 
collated, very few of Porter's friends could be rallied 
to face a political prejudice! Grant showed his time 
serving duplicity by refusing /or yearn even to investi- 
gate the matter at Porter's urgent solicitation. Such 
treatment by Grant of a brother officer, when he was 
down under the feet of a lot of howling politicians, was 
about the true measure of U. S. Grant's j)ersonal friend- 
ship, and measured the degree of his magnanimity and 
his dull appreciation of fair dealing and justice to 
others. 

General Pope was deficient in nearly every element 
requisite to a competent or skillful general, and also 
was lackino; in some of the virtues that iro to make the 
gentleman. I write this in all kindness and charity, 
but must speak the truth. 

Next in order is AmbroseE. Burnside, who shone as 
a transitory faint light on the Virginia battle lines. I 
have had occasion in another place to pay my respects 
to Burnside. Meanwhile, it goes without saying (as 
the French express it) that Burnside did not amount to 
even mediocrity as a general. So I need not waste 
paper and time with him, the more especially as I have 
expressed myself in plain English elsewhere. 

General Joseph Hooker ("Old Joe," as he was 
called) also failed on that line; and, from want of capac- 
ity too, because there was no political pull against 
Hooker. No doubt, Joe's ivhisky was bad, and too 
much of it was all the worse "for Joe." Still "old 
Joe " was a good man, and a kind friend. 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 435 

General Sherman I never served with, but knew 
him in the old array, and also as superintendent of a 
street railway in St. Louis. He had resigned from the 
old army in 1853, but re-entered as colonel of the 
Thirteenth Infantry, May, 1861, from which he rose ta 
the highest grade. He was always affable and my 
friend. I had not seen him, however, for nearl}^ a year^ 
until January, 1862. While I was establishing an army 
depot at Cairo, I had occasion to visit Paducah, Ken- 
tucky, and Shaw^neetown, Illinois, which I did by go- 
ing on a steamer up the Ohio with army supplies. At 
Paducah, on my return, Sherman got on board to go 
to St. Louis, and came with me as far as Cairo. He 
was so changed from what he was when I had last seen 
him in St. Louis, that I was at a loss how to appear so- 
ciable with him. He was exceedingly reticent, and ap- 
peared to be all the while in a meditative mood. I dared 
not ask him if he was sick or ailing. He would w^alk the 
deck of the steamer by the hour, now and then stop- 
ping for a moment to look over the railing at the water 
below, then glance furtively at the heavily timbered 
shores. I could not draw him into social conversation, 
all I could do, so I let him alone. He continued on the 
steamer up river to St. Louis. I never saw him there- 
after till I met him in the Tremont House, Chicago, in 
1869. Undoubtedly Sherman was greatly perturbed? 
in mind when on that steamboat. It was about the 
time he had called for one hundred thousand troops- 
for service through Kentucky and the South, and the 
newspapers, as well as President Lincoln and his chief 
officers, were making strange of Sherman's extravagant 
call and wild ideas of what he conceived to be a neces- 
sary military force. I was not surprised, myself, at 

28 



434 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

Sherman's call for such a force, for I considered such a 
force was required, nor do I believe Mr. Lincoln was, 
in fact, very much surprised. I recalled to my mind 
my interview with Mr. Lincoln at Springfield the year 
before, as previously narrated. I have long since be- 
lieved that my first impression at meeting Mr. Lincoln 
in that Springfield interview was correct, and that his 
then expressed belief " that a couple of regiments 
would be ample to settle impending troubles," and his 
expressed amazement at my views (suggesting several 
hundred regiments would be required) was a false pre- 
tense on his part, and was done for the purpose of draw- 
ing out my own views. 

It is plain to my mind at this writing (1870) that 
Mr. Lincoln dissembled and cloaked his true feelings 
and opinions in that interview, and that he was, no 
doubt, at that time formulating a call for his seventy- 
five thousand men as soon after his inauguration as 
circumstances would permit. Mr. Lincoln was too 
sagacious a politician not to have then seen much more 
clearly into the future than I did and more than he ad- 
mitted. I have always considered General Sherman 
the most complete all-round general that the war pro- 
duced on the Federal side of the conflict. He was 
nervous and quick of action, yet methodical, lie was 
"a student of strategy and taxtics, and not a slugger, as 
were Grant and Sheridan and Burnside. Sherman 
could meet the enemy with equal numbers on both sides 
and by strategic and tactical manoeuvres hold his own, 
nor lose undul^'' the lives of his men ; whereas, the 
three other generals named had no other genius but 
brute force, and were never capable of meeting a foe on 
equal terms as to numbers, but required two or three to 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 435 

one. whose lives they appeared to view about in tlie same 
light as they did their mules or beef cattle. Their suc- 
cesses were entirely due to an inexhausitble supply of 
men, munitions and food. Not one single ray of true 
generalship did the three generals named ever cast on 
the horizon of a battle-field ; not a strategic move did 
either of them ever make showing genius, nor a tacti- 
cal manoeuvre showing skill. When our next great 
war (which will be due in a few more years) shall have 
been fought to a finish — whether a domestic, foreign 
or a mixed Avar — the vaunted prowess of generals in 
our late rebellion will not be heard so much and w411 
drop out of mind save as recalled from the musty 
records of departed penny-a-liners. 

General George H. Tliomas, General George G. 
Mead, General Fitz-John Porter, General William B. 
Franklin, General W. F. Smith and General John 
Sedgwick were all able men, and to them could have 
been safely entrusted the highest commands. McDow- 
ell, Pope and Burnside did not approach either of the 
six named in skill or generalship; while Grant and 
Sheridan both required i/ie earth to achieve success ! 

But I will leave until later to write up my notes as 
to Grant and Sheridan. I may conclude, however, not 
to write anything more about them. 

On the Confederate side. General Robert E. Lee 
was the ablest general the South had. No doubt, one 
or two others would have proved as able had they been 
by accident or otherwise intrusted with the chief com- 
mand. The Confederate president, Davis, was the 
heaviest load the Confederate army had to carry ; and 
the Confederate Congress was a collection of men 
which will ever mark a precedent in pretended intelli- 



436 KEMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

gent legislative bodies as the most colossal, stupen- 
dous, incomprehensible collection of idioc}', selfishness 
and blind malignity ! Why it was such a collection of 
blind, half-witted, self-conceited men could sit in legis- 
lative halls for three and a half years passes under- 
standing! 

Thomas J. Jackson (know as Stonewall Jackson, 
from a remark made by Confederate Colonel Barnard 
E. Bee, at the battle of first Bull Run) was perhaps the 
most active, energetic and daring commander in either 
Confederate or Federal army. Jackson utilized his op- 
ponents' errors and mistakes with a rapidity and effect- 
iveness seldom if ever before achieved by a com- 
mander! He did more execution with smaller force, 
and with less loss to his command, than anv other 
commander on either side. Jackson was not onlv my 
classmate, but also my roommate at West Point. I 
knew him well, and have referred to him when in Mex- 
ico, in another place in these pages. In some respects 
Jackson was a singular character. He was extremely 
reticent, almost taciturn; with great power of mental 
abstraction and concentration ; unique in singleness of 
purpose, and untiring in the execution of a purpose. 
In religion he was a Presbyterian, in which he might 
be classed as an enthusiast! In fact, he appeared to 
an unbiased observer willing to offer himself, as a prac- 
tical illustration of the doctrine of "fore-ordination," 
taught by John Calvin, of that church, long ago. He 
was not a great man, nor a learned man, either in the- 
ology or nature, or nature's laws. He moved and 
lived in a circumscribed circle, loyally and conscien- 
tiously consigning to perdition all whose doxy was not 
his or his church's doxy, and such character could 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 437 

never be great! This, of cours3, was the result of his 
early education and environments, but, all the same, 
he was true to his teachings and his convictions; and 
therefore in no wise differed Jrora other extreme re- 
ligionists who have the courage of their convictions 
and the Avillpower to practice the same. The theory 
and belief in predestination or fore-ordination taught 
by Jackson's church relieves the subject from respon- 
sibility or forethought of consequences. Jackson came 
nearer filling the measure of what he professed than 
<lid his enemies or many of his friends. 

Tliere were several able officers in the Confederate 
army, George E. Pickett (also my classmate) and the 
two Hills, the younger Lees, J. E. B. Stewart, General 
Forest, G. W. Smith, P. G. T. Beauregard ; the two 
latter were superior to the ones they were displaced 
for. Had G. W. Smith been sustained by the Confed- 
erate president and cabinet in Virginia, different re- 
sults would have been achieved in the early part of the 
conflict. Had Beauregard been chief in command at 
Shiloh, with A. S.Johnston second in command. Grant 
would have met a crushing defeat at that time. As it 
was. Grant's army was whipped, but lack of general- 
ship by the Confederates (Johnston being killed, Beau- 
regard far off and not conversant with the plan of battle) 
allowed the Federals to recover and turn their defeat 
into a partial victory and rapid recuperation. How- 
ever, political wire-pulling, prejudice, demagogism and 
favoritism, both North and South, brought incompe- 
tency to the front, and kept able men in the back- 
ground. This is inevitable in our system of govern- 
ment, which pretends to believe the huge falsehood 
that all men are born equal, while facts and common 
sense know to the contrary. 



438 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

I have thus far mentioned only graduates of the 
United States Military Academy, of whom I felt I 
knew enough about to warrant me in writing with 
freedom. But, it is due to our people at large to say 
that there came men from civil life into both 
armies who developed the highest elements of skillful 
commanders. I can not spare space to individualize, 
but it was plain to the looker-on that very many Fed- 
eral and Confederate generals from civil pursuits 
excelled in many wa3's a large number of so-called 
educated military officers. In many ways this was 
natural. A strictly West Point course makes good 
drillmasters and painstaking disciplinarians, but not, 
in most cases, great generals. The hum-drum routine 
of too much detail rather obstructs growth to the 
higher field of action, which must not be encumbered 
with too many minor details of the company and the 
regiment. Not having these handicaps, some civilian 
generals developed superior talents as commanders. 

Having touched on some of the principal command- 
ers, as I knew them, and judged of their several capac- 
ities by their conduct at the time, I will dismiss the 
subject, only protesting that I have recorded my indi- 
mdual opinion in no spirit of disparging criticism, but 
simply as a looker-on during the bloody drama, which 
neither I nor mine had any part in fomenting, yet suf- 
ferred untold injury in its prosecution. Truly unequal 
are the burdens laid on human shoulders for man's 
ambition. So has it always been, and ever will be, 
till " only those who make the war shall be the men 
to fight." This, however, contemplates the dawning 
of that millennial star which may never shine. As the 
maloderous barn-yard pile brings foith gorgeous 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 439 

flowers of sweetest fragrance to deck the lady's brow, 
so the hired soldier must fill the ranks, then lug the 
musket to the unmarked grave, unsung, unwept, where 
his moulderino' remains bring fame and fortune to 
embellish a crown unearned for another's head to 
wear. And while this is going on, the unfortunate 
wife and husband, children and friends, must needs be 
suffering the pains of war without even the barbarous 
satisfaction of striking back. Such portions of the 
community are the prey of both contending factions, 
suffering robbery, insult and persecution because of 
their involuntary existence on eartli. 

I beg pardon if I have offended any one I have 
named in the foregoing expression of my personal 
opinion, nor do I underrate scores of others I have not 
space to name. Most of those mentioned are living at 
this date on which I am transcribing my rusty notes, 
and they are w^elcome to have the last say ; while of 
those who have paid their last debt, I have tried to 
observe the good old Latin injunction, which says: 
" Of the dead let nothing be said but what is true." 

On my arrival at St. Louis, February, 1866, to close 
up some matters, I w^rote to the War Department to 
take up and settle my public accounts as soon as 
possible, as I then desired to go to Europe as soon 
as I could ; but I received in answer, that as I had 
been one of the regular officers of the old army, and 
as my accounts to be finall}^ settled comprised all my 
accounts since 1846, just twenty years, it was not ex- 
pedient to take them up till after the settlement of the 
great army of volunteer officers accounts were 
adjusted — and it was not till March, 1868, that I 
got the treasury officials to take up my accounts. 



440 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

They finally did so, and I sent for one or two of my 
former clerks — and with them applied myself for two 
months to going over, correcting, explaining and com- 
pleting all my old accounts of the Mexican War ; then 
of the frontier service, from 1848 to 1861 ; and lastly 
of the accounts during the years 1861-2-3 and 1865. 
This work I did at my residence, 584 Wabash avenue, 
Chicago, and then sent a clerk to Washington, where 
he rented a room to live in by the month, and so ap- 
plied himself in the auditor's office and other offices 
there to aid and assist and expedite a final settle- 
ment. It was not till August, 1870, that I got all 
closed up — and had to expend for clerk hire, traveling 
expenses and other items, $1,296.96 — for clerks alone, 
not including my own personal travel to and from 
Washington City, hotel bills, etc., etc. 

But finally every account was settled. At the close 
of it a very amusing, but a delightful and pleasing, 
error was discovered in m}'^ Utah accounts of 1860. 
During my sale of mules and wagons in Utah, the sum- 
mer of 1860, as previously narrated, large disburse- 
ments and large receipts of money occurred ; and I 
paid off several hundred men on pay-rolls and dis- 
charged them ; one roll comprising over sixty pages 
of fool's-cap size with over two hundred names and as 
many separate })ayments on it, the total amount being 
footed up at the bottom of the last page, and that 
carried to the account current, and entered as a credit 
to me. That pay-roll footed up properly $62,075.00 
and was so written at the bottom, but when folded 
and the footings-carried over and endorsed on the 
back, it was written $60,500.00, and this was the 
amount carried to the account current as the credit to 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 441 

me. After all my xiccounts for that quarter were com- 
plete in my office at Utah, I counted the balance of 
money on hand and found it to be $1,575.00 short. I 
told ray chief clerk about it, and we both counted the 
money. He was much perplexed about it (for he had 
handled all the money, having paid the men from day 
to day as they came in for payment and discharge) 
and he went all over the cash papers, but failed to find 
any error. Still a third time he went over the accounts, 
but no error discovered, and he became so nervous 
about it that he even asked for his discharge, which I 
declined to gi-ant. But as the time required to for- 
ward my accounts was already past, I liad to send 
them on to the Treasury Department as they were 
(showing $1,575 more money on hand than I really 
had), and I had to draw against my private funds to 
make up that amount. So it stood from 1859 to 1870, 
eleven long years, neither of us being able to explain 
it, and we settled down to the naked fact of so much 
loss, but unable to explain how it occurred. The mat- 
ter had passed out of my mind in the activities of the 
eleven years, when the final overhauling of all the ac- 
counts in the Treasury Department occurred ; this 
brought to light the transposition or erroneous carry- 
ing forward of the footing on the pay-roll. The comp- 
troller even then required full explanation and corrob- 
orative proofs of how it had occurred, and that I had 
made good the apparent deficit, before he would issue 
me a warrant of reimbursement. This I furnished and 
got back my mone3^ I relate this to show that such a 
thing as an undiscovered error may place a disbursing 
officer sometimes in a questionable relation, without 
the least thought or act on his or his employe's' part 



443 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

of a criminal nature. Many innocent volunteer disburs- 
ing officers in the late war suffered in this way. 

Having closed all my accounts with the government, 
I called on the paymaster to draw my pay as a retired 
officer, and was informed that I was out of the service; 
that my tender of resignation, at Denver, in September, 
1865, worked my entire separation from the army, in- 
stead of merely from "active service," as I had intended 
it to do. So that cut me off from all retired pay, and 
I said no more about it for some years. AH the time 
I felt that I had been unfortunate in the language I 
used in wording my resignation, failing to use the lan- 
guage I ought to have used, but nevertheless I con- 
sidered the action of the Department illiberal and un- 
just to me. Still I let it pass, as I was independent as 
to means for living at that time. Finally, after the 
great fire in Chicago, October, 1871, 1 lost so much, in 
a business ^vay, that I felt thew^ant of my retired pay 
which, in justice and equity as well as by law", I was 
entitled to. I had seen officers who had resigned, and 
some who had been dismissed for crimes of peculation 
and drunkenness, re-instated to the army, and then in a 
few weeks or days placed on the retired list for life by 
the president. This, of course, was a species of criminal 
favoritism which ought to be made impossible for any 
president or political administration to practice but 
it is a practice which will never cease, until human 
natures are changed. I applied to be re-instated, but 
President Hayes, holding my hand in his, with his other 
hand on my shoulder (in that patronizing, demagogical 
manner of professional politicians) declared he had no 
authority whatever to re-instate me, but, "if I would 
get a bill passed by Congress, to that effect, he would 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 443 

most willingly sign it, etc., etc., ad nauseam! To 
all this I listened with due attention, and, in a few 
months I was edified by Mr. Ha3^es re-instating a dis- 
missed drunkard^ and imraediataly putting him on the 
retired list for life ! Likewise another officer who had 
been dismissed for stealing public money President 
Hayes restored to the army one day and the next day 
or week placed him on the retired list for life ! And 
this is the kind of fair dealing and equity, integrity, 
honesty and patriotism with which the head and 
chief of the American Government thinks he can 
hoodwink the average voter, who is without friends 
or influence. But not much was I deceived. I was, just 
then, one of those who expected nothing, and was not 
disappointed. However, as many people swear we 
have the best government on earth, I need not swear^ 
myself, at all — one way or the other — but I have my 
opinions all the same. These re-instated fellows were 
of the sovereign volunteer breed, having strong pulls 
and controlled votes to a much greater extent than an 
old regular, whose life had been passed in the military 
service while it was comparatively free from politics, 
and b\' no means popular with the umoaslied masses. 
Mr. Hayes, of course, told a "whopper" to me then. 
However, as all political government is mainly for 
the benefit of those who govern and run the machine, 
the neglected have no recourse but to submit. But as 
the poor devils who are forced to kneel at the confes- 
sional make haste to damn the confessor when they 
leave the chancel, so the outsider in a partisan govern- 
ment most heartily execrates the greater part of the 
.political corporation he is compelled to accept and live 
under. The great, pity is the injured don't live long 



444 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

enough to get even. Surely nine out of ten will wil- 
lingly accept old Dr. Johnson's expressive, but truthful, 
definition of the characters of those political mountebanks 
who float to the surface and wield power and control, 
where only honest men ought to be. A short time 
after the Hayes interview, I filed my petition with Con- 
gress for re-instatement to my place on the retired list , 
which I held when I yielded to the request of the 
assistant quartermaster-general to take special service 
at Denver, Colorado. This petition was, of course, 
referred to the committee on military affairs in the 
house, and a Mr. Sparks, of Illinois, was chairman of 
that committee. Bragg, of Wisconsin, and Tom Brown, 
of Indiana, were members of the same. These three 
men virtually ran that committee and killed my peti- 
tion, as I might have expected. The chairman, Sparks, 
was a cold, calculating demagogue, of Illinois, rich in 
this world's goods (by receipts from political revenues). 
Tom Brown, of Indiana, was a blind, unreasoning 
republican, also rich, and incapable of seeing any merit 
in a petition from a Tennessee democrat. Bragg, of 
Wisconsin, was a little man in every sense. His prin- 
cipal business was to take his liquor straight, am. use the 
crowd, and pass as an oracle on Wisconsin democracy, 
which at that time was infinitesimally small, but of 
which he claimed with reason to be a leading member. 
So it was and ever will be under a like regime. My 
case received the coldest kind of treatment from the 
two, so-called, democratic and one republican political 
demagogues. I then filed my petition in the Senate 
and called on John A. Logan, of Illinois, at the Palmer 
House, Chicago. I gave him a copy of my printed 
petition, and explained the case. He was just then from 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 445 

a political tour in the southern part of the State, 
was tired and when I called on him was lying on 
a lounge in his room, in the Palmer Hotel. I sat 
down by him, and read my petition, explaining as I 
proceeded. He listened with one arm back under his 
ponderous head, — the other crossed over his colossal 
chest — and no doubt he had his mind a thousand miles 
away roaming over the political fields yet to be con- 
quered by his patriotic efforts. However, he yerfunc- 
torily took the paper, by pointing his kingly hand 
toward the table for me to lay it. Just then some of 
his political heelers, in Chicago, came in (a thing, no 
doubt, his mind was on while I was reading my paper). 
Among them I noticed a Mr. Tuthill. I left the room, 
however, feeling that I was in the way of a love-feast. 
Well, my petition was with Logan about three years, 
and all the time he was chairman of the Senate mili- 
tary committee, but he never did anything, never even 
brought it before his committee. I doubt whether he 
ever read it, or even filed it with his committee. I 
even doubt Avhether he ever took it from the table in 
the Palmer House. About a year after this interview 
with Logan at the Palmer House, Mrs. Logan, his wife, 
arrived there and I hastened to call on her. She was a 
Tennesseean and so was L I heard that she was the 
"gray mare" of the team, and I laid my case before 
her queenly majesty with that suavity of a true French- 
man, and supplied her with a copy of my petition, all 
in nice clear print, the same as I had to given Logan. 
Of course, she was profuse in promises to keep the 
" general's mind " on my case, etc., etc., and she took the 
copy as evidence of her expressed intention. (That co2)y 
was found in the hotel room she had occupied, after she 



446 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

had gone.) But I still had hope, for I had not employed 
reliable agents. Logan was an idle, dissolute lieutenant 
in the Mexican war, from Leavenworth to Chihuahua, 
in 1846. He saw no fighting or hard service and but 
little marching (as he rode daily in a commissary 
wagon) and drank commissary whisl*:}' by day, and at 
night around the camp fire he won the other fellows' 
spare cash at draw poker and old sledge. All his life 
till March, 1861, he had been a brawling democrat. But 
scenting safety and a greater revenue as well as a wider 
field for promotion, he turned his coat the "other side 
out," and out-Heroded Herod as a republican. Stephen 
A. Douglas' untimely death, early in 1861, left his large 
democratic following in the northwest (especially in 
Illinois) without a leader ; but before his deathDouglas 
gave strong utterance to the sentiment ^that " the 
Union must be preserved ! " et cetera ! This was John 
A. Logan's favorable moment to don Douglas' cloak 
of union, which no politician knew better than Logan 
how to flaunt before the public, and with the luck 
of the Irishman he succeeded. He was made a briga- 
dier-general, March, 1862, and took the field with 
energy and perseverance, in pursuit of fame and 
revenue, I have mentioned " dirty work Logan " in 
previous pages. His strongest cards to play were the 
political passions and prejudices engendered by the 
war. He was devoid of any real or true patriotic 
sentiment, personall3\ Utterl}^ selfish, grasping and 
ambitious, and withal shrewd and energetic, he lost no 
opportunity to further his purposes of self-aggrandize- 
ment. His ten days' speech in the Senate (long after 
the war) in a vile, cunning and malignant tirade against 
removing the unjust sentence passed against General 



REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 447 

Fitz-John Porter, under false presentations, measures 
Logan's malignity of heart and his unbounded prejudice, 
as also his lack of a spirit for common justice. The 
grim monster, however, cut short Logan's vaultmg 
ambition and few were the really sincere mourners. I 
have written nothing in anger, but merely what I 
believe true. But, political partisanship made sen- 
ators and congressmen tumble over each other to 
vote a large pension (reaching thousands a year, besides 
thousands more as extras) to the widow and this in the 
very face of dozens, yes hundreds, of poor widows of 
faithful military officers, who were asking in vain for 
pensions of only a few hundred dollars which was most 
justly due them b}'^ the services of their husbands ; while 
false claimants were filled to repletion with spoils of 
dishonest legislation. Logan was nearly all his life a 
pensioner on the government at many thousands a year, 
whereas the widow's deceased soldier served for only a 
few dollars a month. " What fools we mortals be ! " to 
dream that honesty or equity ever has or ever will 
obtain in government. The few who happen to be 
born with these virtues either die early, or live only to 
record the fallacy of the theory, and to emphasize the 
bitter fact that the many are divinely created to slave 
for the few. 

Viva la humbug and political hypocrisy ! 

Failing with my petition in the Senate, I tried that 
double-headed, back-action machine called the "Court 
of Claims." In it also, I failed ! After three years of 
trying how not to do it, it fully succeeded. It was 
meant to do this in its organization. It threw out my 
case because there was no political profit in it, it being 
only a plain simple claim for justice by an humble 



448 REMINISCENCES FROM DIARY. 

individual, with no pull in politics. So I dropped the 
case, and have hustled for my bread and meat, while 
corrupt and hypocritical administrations have showered 
riches on every rascal whose trumped up claims their 
political friends could turn to advantage! Such, how- 
ever, is the character of the boasted American republic, 
and will continue to be until it becomes so rotten and 
offensive as to arouse not southern but north and 
southwestern rebellion to the point of crushing polit- 
ical office-holders and thieves who have first deceived 
and then robbed the nation ! This last failure saved me 
much worry and some expense. Being now quite past 
my three score and ten, in fairly good health (thanks 
to a robust ancestry) and despite the poisoned and 
diseased system engendered by Florida and Mexi- 
can War, and ten years of frontier hardships between 
the Missouri river and the Pacific coast, I can endure 
with peaceful mind the wrongs which corruptly 
administered governments have inflicted on deserv- 
ing citizens — even when aggravated by seeing many 
thousands of unworthy characters placed on the 
pension rolls of the nation. 



THE END. 



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